• 
 
 DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Treasure "Room 
 
 

 
 / 
 
 
 
I 
 

A 
 
 NARRATIVE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES, 
 
 AND 
 
 Sufferings by Shipwreck Iff Imprjfenment, 
 
 O F 
 
 DONALD CAMPBELL, Esq, 
 
 OF BARBRECK : 
 
 WITH THS SINGULAR HUMOURS OF HIS TARTAR GUIDE, 
 
 Hassan 3rfa?; 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 The Occurrences of Four Tears and Five Days, 
 
 IN AN 
 
 OVERLAND JOURNEY 
 
 TO 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 IN A SERIES OF LETtEP.S TO.HIS SOM. 
 
 V What is this world ? Thy fchool, O mifery ! 
 ' Oar only lefibn is, to iearn to l'ufl'er ; 
 *' And he who knows not that, was burn for nothing." 
 
 Younc. 
 
 SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 PRINTED FOR EVERT DUYCKINCK & CO. 
 
 No. iio, Pkarl-Street. 
 
 1798. 
 
C 1*7/1/ 
 
 AD VER TISEMENT. 
 
 T 
 
 JL H E events related in the following 
 pages, naturally became a frequent fubjeft of con- 
 verfation with my children and my friends. They 
 felt fo much fa:isfa£lion at the accounts which I 
 gave them, that they repeatedly urged me to com- 
 mit the whole to paper; and their affectionate par- 
 tiality induced them to fuppofe, that the narrative * 
 would be, not only agreeable to them, but intere fl- 
 ing to the public. In complying with their folici- 
 tations, I am far from being confident that the 
 fucccfs of my efforts will juflify their hopes : L 
 truff, however, that too much will not be expell- 
 ed, in regard to literary compofition, from a per fori 
 whole life has been principally devoted to the 
 duties o£ a foldier and the fervice of his country — 
 and that a fcrupulous adherence to truth will com. 
 penfate for many blemifhes in flyle and arrange- 
 ment. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I . 
 
 LETTER L Page 13. 
 Introductory. 
 
 LETTER II. Page 16. 
 
 Ridiculous Effects of Ignorance, exemplified in a whimfical; 
 Story of two Dublin Aldermen. 
 
 LETTER III. Page 21. 
 
 Author's Motives for going to India. Melancholy Presenti- 
 ments. Caution againft Superftition. Journey to Margate. 
 Packet. Confoled by meeting General Lockkart on bo^rd, 
 Lands at Oilend. 
 
 LETTER IV. Page 24. 
 
 Short Account of the Netherlands. Conduct, of the Belgi.ms. 
 Oltend defcribed. Wondertul Effetts of Liberty on the 
 Human Mind, exemplified in the Defence of OlUnd againib 
 thc Spaniards. 
 
 LETTER V. Page 29. 
 
 Caution againft ufing Houfes of Entertainment on the Conti- 
 nent kept by Englifhmen. Defcription of the Barques. 
 Arrives at Bruges. Grofs Act of defpotifm in the Emoe- 
 for. Imprilonment of La Fayette. 
 
 LETTER VI. Page 34. 
 
 Defcription of Bruges. Reflections on the Rife and Doc 
 Empires. Chief Grandeur of the Cities of Chriflen 
 
 'led in Buildings, the Works of Monk, 
 and Scniuality. Superilition a powerful Eng 
 
 LETTER VII. Page 39. 
 
 Opulence of the Bifhop of Bru^rs. C^hedral; Church of 
 : D-,;:?. Vefliticnts of T;:0;jas a Becket. Extra— 
 
 A 2 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 ordinary Picture. Monaftery of trie Dunes. The Mortifi- 
 cation of that Order. A curious R:iic. 
 
 LETTER VIII. Page 4-. 
 
 PafTage to Ghent. Cheapnefs of Travelling. Defcription of 
 Ghent. Cathedral. Monaftery of St. Pierre. Charity 
 of the Clergy. 
 
 LETTER IX. Page 51. 
 
 Defcription of two brazen Images, ere&ed in Commemora- 
 tion of an extraordinary Act of Filial Virtue. Journey 
 from Ghent through Aloft to BruiTels. 
 
 LETTER X. Page 55. 
 General Review of Auftrian Flanders. 
 
 LETTER XI. Page 60. 
 
 Short defcription of Bruffels. Royal Library. Arfenal. Ar- 
 mour of Muiuezuma. The Enormities committed under 
 tie Pretext of Chriftianity, by far greater than thole com- 
 mitted by the French in the Frenzy of emancipation. 
 
 LETTER XII. Page 66. 
 
 Bui fTe Is continued. Churches, Chapels, Toys, Images and 
 Pictures. A Hod, or Water, which was (tabbed by a Jew, 
 and bled profufely. Inns excellent and cheap. 
 
 LETTER XIII. Page 71. 
 
 General Remarks on the people of the Netherlands. Account 
 of the Emperor Joseph the Second. Anecdote of that Mo- 
 narch His Inauguration at Bruffels. Burning of the Town- 
 houfe. Contrafted conduct of the Belgians to Josf.ph on 
 his Arrival, and after his Departure. The deteftablc Effects 
 of Ariftocracy. 
 
 LETTER XIV. Page 79. 
 
 Lieg». Conftitution of the German Empire. Tolerant Dif- 
 pofition of Joseph the Second, occasions a Vifit from His 
 Holinefs the Pope, ,who returns to Rome in difappoint- 
 ment. Situation of the prefent Emperor. Reflections on 
 the Conduct of Ruffia and Pruffia to Poland. 
 
 LETTER XV. Page 86. 
 
 Luxury of the Bifhop of liege. Refl-clions on the Inconfift- 
 ency of the Profeifions and Practice of Churchmen, parti- 
 cularly the a Ac\0 Epifcepuri, wkick Bifhops fwcar at their lu- 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 Ratement. Advantages of the Rudy of the Law in all Coun- 
 tries. Liege, the Puradife of PnefU. Sir John Mamde* 
 vi l l*s Tomb. 
 
 LETTER XVI. Page 91. 
 
 Aix~la-Chapel!e. A bit of Earth iu a Golden Cafket. Con- 
 fecration of the Cathedral, by an Emperor, a Pope, snd 
 three hundred and fixty-five Bnfhops. Their valuable Prc- 
 fents to that Church. 
 
 LETTER XVII. Page 96. 
 
 Juliers. Reflections on Religious Persecution. Cologne. 
 Church of St. Urfula. Bones of eleven thoufand Virgin 
 Martyrs. Church of St. Gerion. Nine hundred Heads of 
 KlooriQl Cavali°rs. Reflections on the Eitablifhment of 
 Clergy, and the Superiority of that of Scotland. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. Page 101. 
 
 Cologne continued. Strange Ambition of Families to be 
 thought Defendants of the Romans. Story of Lord An- 
 son* and a Greek. Pilot. Bonne. Bridge of Casfar. Cob- 
 
 lentz. Mentz. Frankfort, 
 
 LETTER XIX. Page 106.. 
 
 Frankfort defcribed. Golden Bull. Auglburgh. Manufac- 
 tory of Watch-Chains, &c. Happy Scate of Society arifing 
 from the tolerant Difpoiuion of the Inhabitants. 
 
 LETTER XX. Page in. 
 
 Augfburgh continued. Adventure in the Convent of Carme- 
 lites. A good Friar. 
 
 LETTER XXI. Page 116. 
 
 Tyrol Country, Story of Genii leading the Emperor Max- 
 im ; lion aitray. Innfpruck. 
 
 LETTER XXII. Page 121. 
 
 Tyroleft. Innfprack. Riches of the Francifcan Church 
 there. One Mafs in it Sufficient to deliver a Soul from Pur- 
 gatory. Hall. Curiofuies at the Royal Palace of Ombras. 
 Br Hen. Valley of Bolfano. Trent. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. Page 126. 
 De r cript;on of the Bifhopric of Trent, Obvious Difference 
 between Germany and Italy. Contrail between the Characi- 
 
8 CONTEXTS. 
 
 crs of the Germans and Italians. Council of Trent. Tower 
 for drowning adulterers. BaiTano. Venice. ' 
 
 LETTER XXIV. Page 131. 
 
 General Description of Venice, and Reflections on the Vene- 
 tians. 
 
 LETTER XXV. Page 137. 
 
 Concubinage more fyflematically countenanced in Venice 
 than London. Tritfte. Lo'.s of fer\an: and Interpreter, 
 
 Sail tor Alexandria. Zante. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. Page 1 13 . 
 Adventure at the Ifland of Zante. Alexandria. The Piague, 
 and an Tncurfion of the Arabs. Pompey'j Pillar, Cleopa- 
 tra's Obelifk, &c. Ifland of Cyprus, Latichea. Aleppo. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. Page 156.- 
 Defcription of Aleppo. 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. Page 162. 
 Short Account of the Turkifh Conftitution and Government;. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. Page 168. 
 
 Account of Turkifh Conftitution and Government continued: 
 Moral Character of the Turks. 
 
 LETTER XXX. Page 174. 
 
 Prejudices of Chriflian Writers, and their Mifreprefenta- 
 tions of the Turkifh Morals and Religion. Vindication oi 
 the latter. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. Page 18D. 
 Vindication o r the Turks eontinued. Description of a Cara- 
 van. Acconnt of Ceremonies ufed by Pilgrims at Mecca* 
 
 LETTER XXXII. Page 194. 
 Aleppo continued. Frequent Broils in the Street*. 
 
CONTENTS. 9 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. Page 203. 
 Aleppo continued. Coffee-Houfes. Story-tellers. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. Page 206. 
 
 Aleppo continued. Puppet-fhews. Rargahuze, or Punch, hi 3 
 Freedom of Speech and Satire. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. Page 213. 
 
 Difagrecable Adventure, which occafions a fudden Departure 
 from Aleppo. 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. Page 220. 
 
 A plan of Travelling fettled. Tartar Guide. Departure 
 from Aleppo. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. Page 227. 
 
 D:fcription of Tartar Guide. His conduct. Arrival at Diar- 
 beker. Padan Ar»m of Motes. Scripture Ground. Re- 
 flections. Defcription of the Citv of Diarbeker. Whimfic- 
 al Incident occafioned by Laughing. Oddity of the Tartar. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. Page 233. 
 
 Strang; Traits in the Tartar's Character. Buys Women, ties 
 them up in Sacks, and carries them 50 miles. Reflexions 
 on the Slave Trade. Apoflrophe to the Champion of the 
 eppreffed Africans. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. Page 239. 
 Extravagant Conduct of the Tartar, which he afterwards ex- 
 plains iatisfactoriiy. Extraordinary Incident and Addrefs 
 of the Tartur, in the Cafe of Santons-. 
 
 LETTER XL. Page 245. 
 
 Exp'anation of the Affair by the Santons. Bigotry. Reflect- 
 ions. 
 
 LETTER XLI. Page 25c 
 Arrives at Moful. Defcription thereof. A Story-teller. A 
 Puppet-fhew. The Tartar forced to yield to Laughter, 
 which he fo much condemned. Set out for Bagdad. C2i- 
 knders— their artful Practifes. 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART ill. 
 
 LETTER XLII. Page 2 j8. 
 
 Arrivrs at Bagdad. Whimfical Conduct of the Guide. Cha- 
 racter of the Turks. Short Account ef Bagdad. Effects of 
 Opinion. Ruins of Babylon. Leaves Bagdad. Attacked 
 by Rrobbers on thc^Tigris. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. Page 265. 
 
 Arrives at Baffora. Account of that City. Leaves, it, and 
 arrives at Bufheer. More Difappointment. Bombay. Goa. 
 Gloomy Prefentiments on leaving Goa. A ftorm, 
 
 LETTER XLIV. Page 271. 
 Shipwreck. 
 
 LETTER XLV. Page 278. 
 The fame. 
 
 LETTER, Page 283. 
 
 Made Prifoner by fome of Hyde it Alli'j Troops. Huma- 
 nity of a Lafcar, Hardfhips. Meets a Friend. Mr Hall. 
 
 LETTER XLVII. Tage 288. 
 
 Mr. Hall's Mifery aggravated by the Lofs of a Miniature 
 which hung at his Bofom. Sent under a guard up the 
 Country. 
 
 LETTER XLVII I. Page 293. 
 
 Arrives at Hydernagur, the capital of the Province of Bidanore. 
 Brought before the Jemadar. Committed to Prifoc. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. Page 899. 
 Hiftcry of Hyat Sahib. Called upon to enter into the Service 
 of Hyder, and offered a Command. Peremtorily refuies. 
 Another Prifoner, a Native. Court of Juflice. Torturei 
 and Exa&ions. Mr. Hall declining faft. 
 
 LETTER L. Page 33-. 
 Mr. Hall's affe&ing Story. 
 
CONTENTS. II 
 
 LETTER, LI. Page 313. 
 
 Preffed to enter into the Service of Hyder Alli. Refufal. 
 Threatened to be hanged. Actually fufpended, but let 
 down again. Still perfifts in a Refufal, and determined to 
 undergo any Death rather than enter. Projects a Plan to 
 excite a Revolt, and efcape. 
 
 LETTER LIL Page 319. 
 
 Proje&s to efcape defeated. Laid in Irons. Intolerable 
 Hardfhips. Death of Mr. Hall. 
 
 LETTER LIII. Page 324. 
 
 Melancholy Situation. Cruelty. Releafed from Prifoa. 
 Account of Hyder, and the Eaft India Politic* in general. 
 
 LETTER LIV. Page 329. 
 Eaft India Politics continued. 
 
 LETTER LV. Page 333. 
 
 Account of Hyder, and Indian Politics continued. General 
 Mathews's Defcent on the Malabar coaft. Mounts the 
 Ghauts. Approaches towards Hydernagur. Author's De- 
 light at getting into the open Air. Delivered by an unex- 
 pected Encounter from his Guards. 
 
 LETTER LVI. Page 340. 
 
 Returns to the Fort, and propofes to the Jemadar to give it 
 up to the Englifh. Proceeds to the Englifh Camp. 
 
 LETTER LVII. Page 345. 
 
 Meeting with General Mathews. Returns to the Fort with 
 a Cowl. Delivers it to the Jemadar. Leads General Ma- 
 thews into the Fort, and brings him into the Prefence of 
 the Jemadar. Englifh Flag Hoifted. Vindication of Gene- 
 ral Mathews from the Charge of Peculation. 
 
 LETTER LVIII. Page 351. 
 
 Sets off for Bengal. Cundapore. Unable to proceed. Let- 
 ter from General Mathews. Proceeds in an open Boat 
 for Anjengo. Stopped by Sicknefs at Mangalore. Telli- 
 cherry. Anjengo. Travancore. Dancing Girls. Palam- 
 cotah. Madura. Revolt of Isif Cawn. 
 
 LETTER LIX. Page 357. 
 
 Trichinoooly. Tanjore. Burning of Gentoo Women •with 
 the Bodies of their Hufbands. Negapatnam. 
 
tfa CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER LX. Page 3 $g, 
 
 Leaves >Jegapatnam. Taken by a French Fri'yare, Tforrj&te 
 Reflections. Suftrsin. Character of Tippoo Sahib. 
 Efcape. Arrives at Madras. 
 
 LETTER LXI. Page 37?. 
 
 PafTage to Bengal. Negociation for Hvat Sahib. Mr. 
 Hastings. Sir John Macpherson. " He?rs irom Ma- 
 cau-ley, Sir John's Secretary, of the Servant I loft at 
 Triefte. jagranaut Pagoda. Vizagapatnam. 
 
 LETTER LXI I. Page 383. 
 
 Mafulipatarn. Arrives at Madras. Determines to proceed om 
 Hvat '* Bufinefs to Bombty. Reaches Palameotah. Take* 
 fick. Recovering, crawls to Anjengo, and thence to Bom- 
 bay. Reiolves to return again to Madras. 
 
 LETTER LX1II. Page 397. 
 
 Ad.ventures with a young Lady. Sural. -China. Bath. Con- 
 
 clufioa. 
 
=<a 
 
 JOURNEY TO INDIA, &c. 
 
 L ETTER I. 
 
 My dear Frederick, 
 
 1 HE tendernefs of a fond father's heart 
 admonifhes me, that I fhould but poorly requite the 
 affectionate loliti ude you have fo often exprefled, to 
 become acquainted with the particulars of my jour- 
 ney over land to India, if I any longer with-held 
 from you an account of that fingular and eventful 
 period of my life. I confels to you, my dear boy, 
 that often when I have endeavoured to amufe you 
 With t lie leading incidents and extraordinary vicif- 
 fi .ides of for'.une which chequered the whole of 
 that feries of adventures, and obferved the eager 
 attention with which, young though you were, you 
 liO^ned to the lecital, the tender ienfibility you dif- 
 c'.oied at fome paffages, and the earned cefue you 
 exprelfed that ?« I fhould the whole relate," I have 
 felt an almofi; irreiiftible impulfe to indulge you 
 with an accurate and faithful narrative, and have 
 more than once lat down at my bureau for the pur- 
 pofe : but fober and deliberate reflection fuggefted 
 ti:at it was too foon, and that, by complying with 
 you* defire jt fuch a very early period of your fife, 
 I ilioulu but render the great end I propofed by it 
 
 * 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 abor'ive, fruflrate the inflru&lon which I meant to 
 oonvey, and imprefs the mere incident on your 
 memory, while the moral deciucible from it muft 
 necefTanly evaporate, and leave nrt ttace, or rather 
 excite no idea, in a mind not fufficiemly matured 
 for the conception of abftra£l principles, or prepared 
 by practice for the deduction of moral inferences. 
 
 1 am aware that there are many people, who, 
 contemplating only the-number of your days, would 
 confider my undertaking this arduous tdfk, and offer- 
 ing it to. -your refle&ion, even now, premature: but 
 this is a fubjeft on Which I have (o long and fo 
 deliberately dwelt, which I have di feu fled with fo 
 much care, and examined with fuch impartiality, 
 that I think I may be acquitted of vanity, though 
 I fay I am competent to form a judgment .on it. 
 The re full of that judgment is, that I am determined 
 to indulge you without further delay ; and 1 trufl 
 that you will not, on your part, render it an empty 
 indulgence, but, on the contrary, by turning every 
 circumftjnee to its beft ufe, by converting every 
 feeling which thele pages mav excite in your heart 
 into matter of lerious refaction, and by making 
 every event (as it happens to delerve) an example 
 to promote either emulation on the one hand, or 
 ciicumlpecYion and caution on the other, juftify me. 
 in that opinion of you on which I found this de- 
 termination. 
 
 I remember, that when, at an early age, I entered 
 upon that ftage of claflical education at which you 
 are now, at an earlier age, arrived — I mean the 
 ^Eneid— I was not only captivated with the beauti- 
 ful (lory of the Hero, in the fecond Book, but drew 
 certain inferences from parts of it, which I fhall 
 never foiget, and which afterwards ferved to give 
 a dirt €t on to the growth of my lentiments on occa- 
 fions of a funilar nature : above all, the filial piety 
 of w£neas made a deep impreflion on ray mind, aj?^> 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 *5 
 
 by imperceptibly exciting emulation inrny bofom, 
 augmented considerably the natural warmth of my 
 ■affection and refpect for my father. It is under t he 
 recollection of this fenlation, and a firm per!uafion 
 that your heart is fully as fufceptible of every tender 
 imprcfli-on, and your underftanding as fit for the 
 reception of ufeful hi (lory, as mine was then, I hat 
 1 oveilook your extreme youth, and write to you as 
 though you were an adult. If there be a thing on 
 earth of which 1 can boaft a perfect knowledge, it 
 is my Frederick's heart: it has been the object 
 of my uninterrupted ftudy almofl fince it was fir ft 
 capable of manifefting a ienfation ; and, if I am not 
 very much miftaken in it indeed, the lively intereft 
 Ire feels in the occurrences of his father's life, is the 
 lefult, not of idle curioiity, but unbounded filial 
 affection. Such an amiable motive fhall not be dis- 
 appointed in its end ; and while I dilcharge the duty 
 of a parent in gratifying it, I fhall be encouraged 
 and futlained under my labours by the fanguine ex- 
 pectation, that he will derive from my exertions the 
 mod folid advantages in his future progrels through 
 life. As thole advantages are expected alio to extend 
 to my dear boy John, whofe tender years disqualify 
 hiin from making the lame immediate reflections on 
 the various Subjects as they occur, my Frederick 
 will perceive that it becomes his duty, not only as 
 a good ion, but as an affectionate brother, to a ffi it 
 and enforce them upon his mind, to exphin to him 
 the difficulties, and furnifh him with his reafouings 
 and inferences on them, lo as that they may make, 
 as neatly as poflible, equal rmpieSTions on the heart 
 and underftanding of both. 
 
 *• Felix quern faciunt aliena pericula cautum ;" 
 
 And though few have the felicity to be warned by 
 other men's misfortunes or faults, becaufe they Sel- 
 dom moke deep impreffions on their feelings, I am 
 
 13 2 
 
l6 EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE. 
 
 convinced that my fufferings and errors, as they 
 will inteieft my Frederick's heart, and gratify 
 li is curioHty, cannot fail to enlarge his understand- 
 ing, and improve his conduct. 
 
 I am my dear Frederick, &c, 
 
 D. C. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 H 
 
 .AVING, in compliance with your 
 reiterated folicitations, determined to give you a 
 narrative of my journey to the E-ffl Indies, and the 
 fii g .!cr turns of fortune which befel me there, I 
 think it necelury, on reflection, to prepare you fliil 
 further for the reception of it, by propofmg certain 
 terms to be fulfilled on your part ; and as, in my 
 la ft. I told you that I expected you, aid. with your 
 afT. ir brother, to turn my relation to a 
 
 more ufefu! account than the gratification of mere 
 
 e curiofity, by letting the moral deducible from 
 my errors and m.- fortunes ftrike deep and take root 
 in your mine — io there are other things, which, 
 though not Io extremely important, are too weghty 
 to be neglected; to which I deftre to ciieft your 
 attention. 
 
 I believe you mufl have alresdy perceived, that 
 well-being of vourlelf and your brother is my 
 firit — I might, perhaps, without trefpaning m. 
 
 h, lay, my only object in life ; that, to 
 
 the care of your education, and the cultivation of 
 
 yo»r mnu, 1 exclusively devote my lime and my 
 
 5; and that, to infure your- future happu 
 
EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE. 17 
 
 nefs, I xvould facrifice every thing I have a right 
 to difoofe of, and rifk even life itfelf. The time, 
 1 tiuft, is not far diftant, when your brother will 
 be as well qualified to underftand this as you are 
 r,o\v — when both will feel alike the important duty 
 it enforces on you — and when your only emulation 
 will be, who fhall produce the mod luxuriant har- 
 veft to reward the labours I have taken — to reward 
 yourfelves. 
 
 In order, therefore, on my, part, to give every 
 thing I do a tendency to the great object of my 
 wifhes, and induce you, on your's, to contribute 
 your fhare to it, I fhall give you, as I proceed in 
 my narrative, a topographical defcription of the 
 various Countries through which I mall have occa- 
 fion to conduct you, and, as concilely as may be, 
 an account of their manners, policy, and munici- 
 pal inftitutions, fo far as I have been able to collect 
 them; which I hope will ferve to awaken in you a 
 thiift for thofe indifpenfible parts of polite educa- 
 tion, Geography and Hiftory. I expeft that you 
 will carefully attend to thofe fciences, and that you 
 will not fuffer yourfelf, as you read my Letters, to 
 be carried away by the rapid dream of idle curiofity 
 from incident to incident,, without time or dilpofi- 
 tion for reflection : you muft take excurfions, as you 
 go along, from my Letters to your Geographical 
 Grammar and your Maps — and, when neceiTary, 
 call in the aid of your Tutor, in order to compare 
 my obfervations with thofe of others on the lame 
 places, and by thofe means to acquire as determnate 
 an idea as poflible of their local fhua'ion, laws, and 
 comparative advantages, whether of Nature or Art. 
 You will thus enable yourfelf hereafter to confider 
 how fociety is influenced, and why fome commu- 
 nities are better dite&ed than others. 
 
 Here I mud obferve to you. that as geography is 
 a fcience to which rational conversion, as fup- 
 
 b 3 
 
1.8 EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE. 
 
 ported by gentlemen of breeding and education?, 
 mod frequently refers, the leaft ignorance of it is 
 continually liable to detefticn, and, '.when detected, 
 fubjefts a man to the mod mortifying ridicule and 
 contempt. 
 
 The ingenious George Alexander Stee*. 
 vens has, in his celebrated Lefture upon Head?, 
 given a mcft ludicrous, inftance of this ipecies of 
 ignorance, in the chai after of a citizen, who, cen- 
 tring the incapacity of miniflers-, propoies to carry 
 on the vvar on a new plan of his own. The plan 
 is, to put the troops in coik jackets — fend them, 
 thus equipped, to lea — and lar.d them in tht Medi- 
 terranean ; When his companion afks him where 
 that place lies, he calls him fool, and informs him 
 that the Alediterranean is the capital of Constanti- 
 nople. Thus, my dear Ion, has this latirifi ridicu- 
 led ignorance in pretenders to education ; ar.d :hus 
 will every one be ridiculous who betrays a deficien- 
 cy in thii> very indilpeniable ingredient in forming 
 the charofter of a gentleman. But a flory which I 
 heard from a perlon of ft rift veracity, will feive 
 more itrc.igly to fliew you the fhame attendant on 
 ignorance of thofe things which, from our rank, we 
 are fuppoied to know ; and as the fear of lhame 
 never fails to operate powerfully on a generous 
 mind, 1 am fure it will fervc to alairn you into 
 ibduftry, and application to your ftudies. 
 
 During the late American war, about that period 
 when the King of France was, fo fatally for 
 himfelf, though perhaps in the end it may prove 
 fortunate for the interests of mankind, manifefting 
 an intention to interfe.e and join the Americans, a 
 worthy alderman in Dublin, reading the new '.pa- 
 per, obferved a paragraph, intimating, that in con- 
 sequence of Biitifh ciuiiers having flopped fome 
 French veiTels at fea. and fearched them, Fiance 
 had taken umbrage ! The fagacious alderman, nroie 
 
EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE. 19 
 
 patriotic than learned, took the alarm, and proceed- 
 ed, with the paper in his hand, directly to a brother 
 of the board, and. with unfeigned iorrow, deplo- 
 red the lofs his countiy had fuitained, in having a 
 place of fuch confequence as Umbrage ravifhed 
 from it J — defiling, of all things, to be informed 
 in what part of the world Umbrage lay. To this 
 the other, after a torrent of ihve&ive a£ainfl mini- 
 flers, and condolence with his afflicted friend, an- 
 iwered that he was utterly unable to- tell him, but 
 that he had often heard it mentioned, and of courfe 
 conceived it to a place of gieat importance ; at the 
 fame time prop oft ng that they fhould go to a neigh- 
 bouring book feller, who, as he dealt in books, muifc 
 neceffaiily know eveiy thing, in Older to have this 
 goidian knot un'ied. They accordingly went ; and 
 having propounded the queftion, " what part cf 
 the globe Umbrage lay in ?" the book feller took a 
 Gazetteer, and, having fearched it diligently, de- 
 clared that he could not find ir, and laid he wjs 
 ajmofl; fure there was no fuch place in exiftence. 
 To this the two aldermen, with a contemptuous 
 fneer, aniwered by triumphantly reading the pan- 
 giaph out of the newlpaper. The bookseller, who 
 was a fhiewd fellow, and, like mod of his coun- 
 trymen, delighted in a jell, gravely replied, that 
 the Gazetteer being an old edition, he could not 
 antwer for it, but that he fuppofed Umbrage lay 
 fomewhew; on the coafb of Ameiics. With this 
 the wife magiflrates returned home, partly (atisfied: 
 but what words can exprels their chagrin when, 
 they found their error — that the unlucky bookfel- 
 ler had fpread the flory over the city — that the 
 newfpapers were" filled with fatirical fquibs upon 
 it — nay, that a caracature print of themlelves lead- 
 ing the city-watch Jo the retaking of Umbrage, was 
 Ruck up in every fhop — and finally, that they couid 
 icarcely (albeit aldermen) walk the itreets, without 
 
20 EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE. 
 
 having the populace fneer at them about the taking 
 of Umbrage ! 
 
 Thus, my child, will every one be mote or lcfs 
 ridiculous who appears obvioudy ignorant of thdfe 
 things which, from the rank he holds in life, he 
 fhou.ld be expected to know, or to the knowledge 
 of which vanity or petulence may tempt him to 
 pretend. 
 
 I am fure I need not fay more to you on this 
 fubjeS ; for I think you love me too well to ciifap- 
 p'oint me in the fir ft, wifh of my heart, and I believe 
 you .have too much manly piide to iurh-r io degra- 
 ding a defect as indolence to expofe you hereafter 
 to animadverfion or contempt. Remember, that as 
 nothing in this life, however trivial -or worthlefs, 
 is to be procured without labour — fo, above all 
 others, the weighty and invaluable treafures of eru- 
 dition are only to be acquired by exertions vigor- 
 ously made and unremittingly continued. 
 
 " Quid munus reipublicee majus aut melius afferre 
 ;; poflumus quam fi juventutem bene erudiamus." — 
 Thus faith the matchlels Tully. If, then, the 
 education of youth interefls fo very deeply a (late, 
 can it lels powerfully interell him who (lands in 
 the twofold connection of a citizen and parent ? 
 It is the lively anxiety of my mind, on this point, 
 tint obliges me to procraftinate the commencement 
 of my narrative to another letter, and induces me 
 to entreat that. you will, in the mean time, give 
 this the confideration it deferves, and prepare your 
 mind to follow its inftruclions. 
 
MOTIVES FOR THE JOURNEY. 2-1 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 il VARIETY of unpropicious circum- 
 fiances gave rife to my journey to the Eaft. Indies, 
 while domeftic caLamity maiked my departure, and, 
 at the very ouifet, gave me a foretafteof thofe mile- 
 lies which fate had referved to let fall upon me in 
 the fccjuel. The channels from which 1 drew the 
 means of fupporting my family in that ftyle which 
 their rank and connections obliged them to maintain, 
 were clogged by a coincidence of events as unlucky 
 as unexpected : the war in India had interrupted 
 the regular remittance of my property from thence : 
 a fevete {hock which unbounded generofi'y and 
 beneficence had given to the affairs of my father, 
 lendered him incapable of maintaining his uiual 
 pun&uality in the payment of the income he had 
 afligned me ; and,, to crown the whole, I had been 
 deprived, by death, of two lovely children (your 
 brother and lifter), whom I loved not lefs than I 
 have finee loved you and your brother. 
 
 It was under the prefluie of thole accumulated 
 afflictions, aggravated by the goading thought of 
 leaving my family for fuch a length or tfme £S muft 
 neceffarily etapfe before I could again fee them, that 
 I fet out for India in the month of May, in the 
 year 1781, with a heart overwhelmed with woe, 
 and too furely predictive of mftfortunes. 
 
 From the glodrny cave of depreiTion in which my 
 mind was funk, I looked forward, to leek, in the 
 future, a gleam of comfort — but in vain : net a ray 
 
« MOTIVES FOR THE JOURNEY. 
 
 appeared — Melancholy had thrown her fombre fha- 
 dow on the whole. Even prefent affliction yielded 
 up a (hare of my heart to an unaccountable difmal 
 presentiment of future ill ; and the dilafters and 
 difappointments I had palled, were loft and forgot- 
 ten in ominous forebodings and inftin£tive pieiages 
 of thofe that were to come. 
 
 Of all the weaknefTes to which the human mind 
 is fubjecl:, iuperftition is that againft which I would 
 have you guard with the utmoft vigilance. It is the 
 mod incurable canker of the mind. Under its un- 
 relenting dominion, happinefs withers, the under- 
 ftanding becomes obfcured, and every principle of 
 joy is blafted. For this reafon I wifh to account 
 for thofe prefages, by referring them to their true 
 phyftcal causes, in order thereby to prevent \our 
 young mind from receiving, from what I have 
 written, any injurious impiefiion, or fuperilitious 
 idea of prefentiment, as it is fafhionably denominated. 
 
 If the mind of man be examined, it will be found 
 naturally prone to the contemplation of the future- 
 its flights from hope to hope, or fear to fear, lead- 
 ing it infenfibly from objects prefent and in poiTef- 
 fion, to thofe remote and in expectation — from 
 pclitive good to fuppofitious better, or from actual 
 melancholy to imaginary misfortune. In thele 
 cafes, the mind never fails to lee the pro(pe£fc in 
 colours derived from the medium through which it 
 is viewed and exaggerated by the magnifying power 
 of fancy. Thus my mind, labouring under all the 
 uneafinefs I have deicribed, faw every thing through 
 the gloomy medium of melancholy, and, looking 
 forward, f©ieboded nothing but misfortune : acci- 
 dent afterwards fulfilled thofe forebedmgs ; but 
 accident, nay. the mofi tiifling cly'ng- of circum- 
 flances, might poflibly have fo totally changed the 
 face of my lublequent progrels, that good fortune, 
 inftead of mi.advciKuie. might have been my lot. 
 
MOTIVES FOR THE JOURNEY. 23 
 
 and foall mv forebodings been as illufory and falli- 
 ble as all fuch phantoms of the imagination really 
 are. Tpus I argue no*' — and I am lure I atgue 
 truly ; but if rcafon be not timely called in and 
 made, as it were, an habitual inmate, it avails but 
 little againft the oveibearing f< ice of fupe/Jtuion 
 who, when fhe once gets polLflion of the mind) 
 holds her feat with unrelenting tenacity, and call- 
 ing in a whole hofl of horrors, with def^air at 
 their head, to. her aid, entrenches herlelf behind 
 their formidable poweis, and bids defiance to me 
 afoul ts of realon. 
 
 4 Thus it fared with me— Under the dominion of 
 a gloomy pretentiment, I IcFl London ; and my 
 joijlney down to Margate, where I was to take 
 ^{^"g* was, as Shakspeare emphatically lays, 
 * 8 aphantafm, or a hideous dream— and my hnle 
 «■ flate of man iuffered, as it weie, the nature of 
 " an infuncaton :"— the chaos within me forbade 
 even the approach of di criminate rcfl,£t on ; and 
 I found myielf on board the packet, bound to Of. 
 tend, without having a fmgle trace let t upon my 
 mind, of the intermediate Itages and incidents that 
 happened fince I had h f ■ London. 
 
 It has been obferved— and I wifli you always to 
 carry it in memory, as- one of the beft conlolaiions 
 under affl.a;on--that human fufierings, like all' 
 other things, find their vital principle exhaufted, 
 and their exti&.on accelerated, by overgiowth ; and 
 that, at the moment when man think* himfelf moft 
 rmlerable, a benignant Providence is preparing re- 
 lief, in fome form or other, for him'. So i:, in 
 fome fort, happened with me ; for I was fortunate 
 enough to find in the -acket a feliow-paffenger 
 \vhofe valuable cor*v*-fation and agreeable manners 
 begu:red me infenfibiv of the gloomy contemplation 
 Jn wh.ch I was abloibed, and afforded my tortured 
 mind a temporary fulpenfion of pain. This gen- 
 
#4 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 tleman was General Locrhart : he was going lt> 
 BrnflWs, to pay his court to the Emperor Joseph 
 the Second, who was then fhortly expelled in the 
 Low Countries, in order to go through the cere- 
 monies of his inauguration. As Brufieis lay in my 
 way, I was flattered with the hopes of having for 
 a companion a gentleman at once fo plennng in his 
 manners and refp'£hb!e in his chaia&er, and was 
 much comforted when I found him as much difpo- 
 fed as myielf to an agreement to travel the whole of 
 the way thither tog iher. Thus, though far, very 
 far from a ftate of eale, I wa-, when landing at 
 Oftcnd, at leaft lefs mifeiabk than at my coming 
 on board the packet. 4r 
 
 As this letter is already fpun to a Iengrh too^Wf&t 
 to admit of any matetial part of the defcriptiw* I 
 am now to give you of Ofler.d, and the country to 
 which it b longs, I think it better to ppftpone it 
 to my next, which I mean to devote entiiely to 
 that fubj 6k. find thereby avoid the confufion that 
 ariies fjum mixing two fiibj £t> in the lame letter, 
 or breskmg off the thread or one in order to make 
 way fci ti.t oiher. 
 
 A-dicu, my dear boy ! — Forg-'t not your brother 
 John. That yqa hiiay both be good and happy, is 
 all the Willi now left to, &c. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 JL HAT country to which I am now to 
 C?U your attention — I mean, the Netbej lands — is 
 marked by a greater number of political changes, 
 and harafled by a more continued train of military 
 
NETHERLANDS. 25 
 
 operations, than perhaps any country in the records 
 of modern hiflory. It may tiuly be called the 
 Ccckpit Royal of Europe, orj' which tyiants", as 
 ambition, avarice, pride, cap^iccy or malignity, 
 prompted them, pitted'-t hop lands, and hundreds of 
 thoufanclff of their fellow-creatures, to cut each 
 other's throats about fome p^inAjr frivolous as regard- 
 ing themfelves, unimportant to mankind, and only 
 tending to gratify a diabolical luff, for dominion ; 
 Yet, under all thefe disadvantages, (itch are the 
 neural qualities of this country), it 'has, till lately, 
 been in a tolerably flcurifhing ftate j y - and would, 
 • under a good government and proper picteciicn, 
 e^ial any part cf Europe for richnefs. 
 
 ♦Flanders, Eiiibart, ard the. country row called 
 the|tjnited Netherlands, were in general known, 
 by the name cf Netherlands, Lew Countries, or 
 Pais-has, fr< m tl eh fituaticn, as it is hppofed, in 
 lefpeft oT Gernany. Anciently, they fem cc a 
 part of Be i^ic Gaul, of which you Tray len ember 
 to have read an account in the Ccn rrentaries of 
 Julius Cesar, who cefoibes the inhabit?nts as 
 the moft valiant cf all tit Gallic Naiicnr— " Plorum 
 *' omnium Belgae iunt fcitilTmi." They after- 
 wards were iurje£l to petty princes, and n sde part 
 of the German Empire ; fro, in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, became Uljecl to Charles the Fifth of the 
 Houfe of Auftna ; bit, being eppreffed beyond 
 endura nee by his fen, Fwitip the Second of Spain, 
 (that blind and furious Ligct), they openly revolted 
 — flew to arms to ailert their freedom ; and, after 
 a iiruggle as glorious in efhft as virtuous in princi- 
 ple--after peifeiming prodigies of valour, and ex- 
 hibiting examples of fonitue'e, to which none but 
 men fighting in the godlike caufe of Liberty are 
 competent — led en by the wifdem and valour cf the 
 Prince of Orange, and aflifted by the Sove- 
 reign of Great Britain — they at length'fo 
 
 C 
 
26 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 1 » 
 
 far fuccee^ed, that thofe now called the United 
 Netherlands, entered into a folemn league, and 
 forced the gloomy tyrant to acknowledge their in- 
 dependence. But that part to which I am now 
 particularly to allude, continued annexed to the 
 Houfe of Auftiia. In 1787, they revolted, and 
 made a temporary ftruggle to dilengage tlumlelves 
 from the dominion oF the Emperor ; but, owing 
 to fome cabals among themselves, and the temper- 
 ate conduct of that prince, they again returned to 
 their allegiance, and were rewarded with a general 
 smnefty. In 179-, they were over-nin by the 
 French army under Genera! DuMOURiER—open- 
 ed their arms to thofe republicans, and wer ■ re. 
 warded for it by opprefiion ? tyranny, and ti juiticV. 
 The French, however, were driven b^ck otr of^he 
 country ; and, wonderful t,6 relate, they again"e- 
 ceived their old matter, the Emperor, with fliong 
 <lemOnfl!ations of joy, and mmifefled thir loyalty 
 and attachment to him by every expreflicn that 
 abjeft hypocrtly could fuggeft. 
 
 «j O ! hew unlike their Belgic fires of old i" 
 
 Here, could I flop with ftr?£r: juftice,, I would — 
 -But, behold ! the French again came ; again they 
 opened their gates to receive them; and again they 
 ver-:. with tenfold fury and rapacity, pillaged, op- 
 preiled and infilled ; and at the very time I am 
 •Writing this, the guillotine is doing its office — en- 
 forcing the payment of the rhoft exotbitant and 
 enormous contributions, and compelling, it is faid, 
 one hundred thouianc of the ill-fated inhabitants 
 to take the field, as foUliers of the republic. 
 
 Human opin'on is lo chequered and uncertain, 
 that two very honed men may 1 in certain cales aft 
 in" direct contradiction and hoflility to each other, 
 with the very bell intentions — He, therefore, muft 
 have but a cofcd heart, and a contracted underftand 
 
NETHERLANDS, 1J 
 
 ing, who cannot forgive the man that acls in fuch. 
 cales erroneoufiy, when he acls hom the exaft dic- 
 tates of hs opinion, and upon the principle which 
 he nas confcientioufly adopted ; but when a wi;ois 
 people are ieen whitking about with every gufh or 
 fortune, and making a new principle for evety new 
 point cf convenience, we inuft diipife them even 
 when tiicy happen to aft right, and can Icarcely af- 
 ford them lo much as pity in their calamities. The 
 A ifltrian Netherlands are now in tjhat fl-Ue : and, 
 without ptefuming to lay in which of their tergiver- 
 fationsthey were right, I will venture to pronounce 
 that they defcrve purufhrnent, and I believe they 
 »ie in hands very likely to give tfiem their due. 
 
 To return — Otteud is a fea-port of Aultrian 
 Fianders, and is (ituated in the Liberty of Bruges. 
 It w<*s, at one time, the ftrongefl town in Flan- 
 ders": but a double ditch and ramparts, which con- 
 stituted its ftrength, are now deflroyed ; and in 
 the place where the former flood, docks, or rather 
 baions, extremely capacious and commodious, are 
 formed, for the reception of {"hipping. The ground 
 about the town is very low and marlny, and cut into 
 a number of fine canals — into iome of which, fliips 
 of the largeft fize may enter — and in one of which, 
 veflels of great burthen may ride, even clofe to 
 Biuges. The harbour here is (o fortunately cir- 
 cumitanced, that it was once thought, by engineers, 
 en.irely fecure from a blockade •, and its prifline 
 strength can in no way be fo well delcribed, as by 
 a relation of the defence it made in the four firft 
 years of the feventeenlh century — though, near the 
 dole of the iixteenth, it was no better than an in* 
 fignificant filhing town. It held out againfl the 
 Spaniards for three years, two months, and fixtceu 
 
 ** d-iys. Eighty thouland men toft their lives before 
 v, while fifty thouland Were killed or died within. 
 
 ■ it at lafl lurrendeied, but; on good terms' j- and not 
 
.48 ACCOUNT, &c. 
 
 for want of men or provifions, but for want of 
 ground to ftand on, which the enemy took from, 
 them, at an amazing lofs, Hep by flep, till they had 
 not room left for men to defend it. Three hun • 
 «lred thoufand cannon-balls, of thirty pounds weight 
 each, were fired againfl it ; and the befieged often 
 filled up the breaches made in their ramparts witb 
 heaps of dead bodies. 
 
 Such, my dear boy, are the miracles that men, 
 animated with the all-fubduing fpirit of Liberty, 
 can perform — Liberty ! that immediate jewel of the 
 foul — that firft moving principle of all the animal 
 creation — which, with equal power, influences the 
 bird to beat the cage with its wings, and the lion 
 to tear the bars of his imprifonrnent — the infant to 
 fpring from the tender confinement of its nurfe, 
 and the lean and. fhxivelled pantaloon, to crawl 
 abroad, and fly the wafmth and repofe of his 
 wholefome chamber- — Liberty ! which, for centu- 
 ries enthralled by artifice and fraud, or lulled into 
 a {lumber by the witching fpirit of prieflcraft, now 
 rifes hke a. giant refrefhed with., wine — in its great 
 efforts for emancipation, deftroys and overturns 
 fyftems — but, when finding no reiiftance, and ma- 
 tured by time, will, I fincerely hope, fink appealed, 
 into a generous calm, and become the bleffing, the 
 guardian and proteftor of mankind ! 
 
 It is your good fortune, my dear children, to be 
 born at a time when Liberty feems to be well un- 
 derftood in your own country, and is. univerially 
 the prevalent paflion of men. It is alrnoft needlefs, 
 therefore, for me to exhort you to make it the 
 groundwork of your political morality : but let me 
 remind you to guard, above all, againfl the defpo- 
 tifm of certain tyrants, to whom rruny of the great- 
 etl advocates for liberty are ftrangely apt to fubmit 
 —I mean, your pafiions. Of all other tyrants,, 
 they axe the moft. fubtle, the moft bewitching the 
 
JOURNEY TO BRUGES. 29 
 
 mod overbearing, and, what is worfe, the mod 
 cruel. Beneath the dominion of other defpots, 
 tranauility may alleviate the weight of your chains, 
 and {often opprefTion ; but when once you become 
 the flive of your paflions, your peace is for ever 
 fled, and you live and die in unabating mifery. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 JL HE pride of the Englifh is remarked 
 all over the globe, even to a proverb ! But pride 
 is a word of Inch dubious meaning, fo undefined 
 in its fenfe, and drained to fuch various imports, 
 that you fhall hear it violently execrated by one, 
 and warmly applauded by another — -this denouncing 
 it as a Tin of the fir it magnitude, and that main- 
 taining it to be the moil vigilant guardian of human 
 virtue, Thofe differences in opinion wife not from 
 any defect in the intellects of either, but from each 
 viewing the fubjeci: in that one point in which it 
 firft ftrikes his eye, or belt fuits his tafte, his feel- 
 ing, or -hSs prejudices. I have no doubr, however, 
 but a full confide! alion of the fubjeci; would ftteV, 
 that pride, as it is called, is only good or bad as tho 
 ohjeft from which it arifes is mean or magnificent, 
 culpable or meritorious. That noble pride which 
 Simulates to extraordinaiy a£ts of generolity and 
 magnanimity, fuch as, in many in (lances, has dif- 
 linguifhed, above all others, the nobility of Soain, 
 exacts the homage and admiration of mankind ; 
 But 1 fear very much that our Englifh pride is oi 
 another growth, and Imells too rankly of that over- 
 tliaiued commercial fpirit which makes the bafis oi 
 the prelent giandeur of Great Britain, but which, 
 in my humble judgment, railes only to debafe her 
 
 C 2 
 
3<5 JOURNEY TO BRUGES* 
 
 •—by flaw, fubtle degrees, poifons the national 
 principle, enflaves the once bold fpirit of the peo- 
 ple, detracts from their real folid felicity, and, by 
 confounding the idea of national wealth with that 
 of national profperity, leads it in rapid ftrides to 
 its downfall. In (hort, we are approaching, I fear, 
 with daily accelerated fteps, to the difpofuion and 
 fordid habits of the Dutch, of whom Doftor 
 Goldsmith fo very pertinently and truly ipeaks^ 
 when he fays, 
 
 " Ev'n Liberty itfelf is barter'd here V 
 
 Without leading your mind through a maze of 
 difquifuion on this fubjeft, which might fatigue 
 with abftrufenefs and prolixity, I will bring you 
 back to the point from which the matter darted,, 
 and content myfelf with remarking, that the pride 
 of the EngliQi, fpeaking of it as a part of the nati- 
 onal character, is the meanefl of all pride. The 
 inflation of bloated, overgrown wealth, an over- 
 weening affection for money, an idolatrous worfhip 
 ©f gain, have abfolutely confounded the general 
 intellect, and warped the judgment of the many to 
 that excefs, that, in eftimating men or things, they 
 always refer to li what is he worth ?■" or, " what 
 will it fetch ?" This fordid habit of thinking was 
 finely hit off by a keen fellow, the native of a 
 neighbouring kingdom, who, for many years, car- 
 ried on bufmefs in London, and failed : — Sitting 
 one day in a coffee-houfe in the city, where fome 
 wealthy citizens were difcuffing a fubje£t not entire- 
 ly unconnected with cafh concerns, one of them 
 obferving him rather attentive to their converfation, 
 turned to him, and faid, " What is your opinion, 
 Sir, of the matter ?" — " 's blood, Sir !" returned 
 he, peevilhly, " what opinion can a man have 
 in this country, who has not a guinea in his 
 pocket ?" 
 
JOURNEY TO BRUGES, ^V 
 
 Under the influence of all the various caprice* 
 infpired by this unhappy purfe-pride, I am iorry 
 to lay our countrymen do, when they go abroad,. 
 fo play the fool, that they are univerially flattered 
 and delpifed, pillaged and laughed at, by all per- 
 ions with whom they have any dealing. In France, 
 Mi Lor Anglois is, or at leaft was, to have fix 
 times as great a profufion of every thing as any 
 other perlon, and pay three hundred per cent* 
 more for it ; and the word of it was, that a Mi 
 Lor was found fo conducive to their intereft, that 
 they would not, if they could help it, iuffer any 
 Englifhman to go without a title — nay, would 
 iometimes, with kindly compulfion, force him to 
 accept of it, whether he would or not : but if an 
 Englishman be, above all others, the obje£t of im- 
 position in foreign countries, certainly none pillage 
 him fo unmercifully as his own countrymen who 
 are fettled there. In all the places through which 
 I have travelled, I have had occafion to remark 
 (and the remark has been amply verified by every 
 gentleman I have ever converled with on the fub- 
 je&), and the mod extravagant houfes of entertain^ 
 ment are thole kept by Englifhmen. At Oftend, 
 as well as other places, it was fo ; therefore, as 
 economy, when it does not trefpafs upon the bounds 
 of genteel liberality, is the belt fecurity for happi- 
 nels and reipett, I advife you, whenever you fh.all 
 have occafion to vilit the Continent, in- the firfk 
 place to avoid all appearance of the purfe-proud 
 oftentation of John Bull ', and, in the next place, 
 to avoid all Englifh houfes of entertainment. 
 
 It is a fingular circumftance, and belongs, I 
 fhould fuppole, peculiarly to Oftend, that the 
 charity-children of the town are permitted to come 
 on board the vefiels arrived, to beg of the paffen- 
 geiSj one day in the wewk, 
 
32 JOURN'EY TO BRUGES. 
 
 Before I bid adieu to Oflend, I mult reirfark or^ 
 heavy di;adv3ntage. under which it labouis — the 
 want of frefh water ; ail they ufe being brought 
 from Brugc?. In going from Oftend to Bruges, a 
 traveller has it in his choice to go by land, or water 
 —If by land, he gets a good voiture for about ten 
 fniliings of our money - fc the road is about fourteen 
 or fifteen miles — If by water [the mode which I 
 adopted, as by far the cheapen: and pleafanteft), he 
 travels in a veiTel pretty much re:etr,bling our Lord 
 Miyor's barge, lomctimes called a track !chuyt, but 
 often la barcjue, or barke : it is, in truth, fitted up 
 in a ftyle of great neat nefs, if not eiegince ; ftored 
 with a large Itock of provisions and refreshments of 
 all kinds, and of fupeiior quality, fur the accom- 
 modation of the pafi'engcrs; and has, particulai 
 a very handfomc private room between decks, for 
 the company to retire to, in order to drink I 
 coffee, &c. &c. or play at cards. In this comforta- 
 ble, I might lay, delightful vehicle, as perfectly at 
 eaie as lying on a couch in the belt room in Lon- 
 don, ate pailengers drawn by two holies, at ths 
 rate of about four miles an hour, for about ten 
 pence, the lame length- of way that it would co;"h 
 fen (hillings to be tumbled in a voiiure over a rou-sh 
 paved road. 
 
 The country between O.lend and Bruges is ver/ 
 level, and of ccurie dellitute c f tho:'e c.iaims to a 
 mind of taffce, which abound in countries tolled by 
 the hand of Nature into hill, dale, mountain, and 
 valley : the whole face of it, however, is, or at leatt 
 then was, in io h:gh a date of cultivation, and fo 
 deeply enriched by the hands of art aod induftiy, 
 aided by the natural fertility of the (oil, thai its 
 appearance, though far from flriking or clel'ightfu), 
 uas by fio means unoltofarit ; and on app: 
 the town of Bruges, wc panc-d bet wee:. -w*3 
 
 of irtes. beautiful, iliadvj and of Ic; —form- 
 
JOURNEY TO BRUGES. 33 
 
 jng, with the (unrounding objefls, a fcene, which, 
 if not romantic, was at leaft pi£turelque.. 
 
 In pauing through countries groaning beneath 
 the defpotic fcourge of unlimited monarchy, where 
 fubfidies are raifed, and taxes laid on ad libitum— 
 where guilty diftrufl and fuipicion, with the eyes 
 of a lynx and the fangs of a- harpy, (land fentineLs 
 at every gate, to fcrutinize the harmlels paflfenger, 
 awake him to the clanks of his fetters, and awe 
 him into compliance, a free-born Briton feels a cold 
 horror creep through his whole frame : his foul 
 recoils at the gloomy ferocious and infolently drift 
 examination, with which a centinel, at the entry 
 of a town, flops, inveftigates, demands a paffport ; 
 and, in flaort, puts him, pro tempare, in a ftate of 
 durance, with all its hideous formalities and appen- 
 dages, its gates, its bars, its armed ruffiins, its for- 
 mal profetlions of laws, and its wtter violation of 
 reafon and of juftice. Entering the town of Bru- 
 ges, We were (topped by a centinel, who, with all 
 the faucy, lwaggenng air of authority, of a (lave in 
 office, demanded to know, whether we had any- 
 contraband goods ? whether we were in any mili- 
 ry capacity ? whence we came ? and whither we 
 were going ? with a variety of other interrogato- 
 ries, to my mind equally impertinent and deteflable, 
 but which feemed to make no greater impreffion on 
 thv; good Flemings themfelves, than demanding the 
 toll at a turnpike-gate would make on an Englifh 
 waggoner. 
 
 Talking over this fubjeft, fincethat time, with a 
 gentleman who is well acquainted with all thofe 
 places, he informed me, that in the war between 
 the Emperor and. the States General, fome French 
 officers, travelling through Flanders to join Count 
 Maillebois, were flopped at the gate of Bruges^ 
 and, by order of the Emperor, fent to his army, 
 turned into the ranks, and obliged to do duty is 
 
 
34 DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 
 
 common foldiers. — Here, my dear Frederick, 
 was an aft, not only defpotic in itirlf, hut aggrava- 
 ted by circumftances of collateral profligacy, of luch 
 enormous magnitude, as bids defiance to all powe*r 
 of amplification, and leave eloquence hopelcfs of 
 defcribing it with greater fnvce than it derives from- 
 a iimple narration of the fa£i : on the one hand, 
 the inroad upon the juft perfonal fights of the in- 
 dividual ; on the other, the rights of a nation vio- 
 lated. Some men in England, jiclging fiom their 
 own constitutional i'ecurity, • may d'fbslieve the 
 fact : but let them confrier, that the CTar.Mifl de fa 
 Fayette, an alien, taken upon neutral gio^ind, is 
 tabW) even now, held in ilftgat, 'Unj;.rt ihraluorh, 
 and pei locution — let them, 1 lay, • remember this, 
 -and let their incredulity ceaie. 
 
 - Blefs your ftars, my denr boy, that you were horh 
 in a country where luch outrages as thele can neveV 
 •i>e perpetrated by any, and will never be approved 
 «t but by- a few. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 T 
 
 IN my laft, I carried you pad a ferocious, 
 impertinent ientinel, into the town of Bruges ; and 
 now, having got you there, I mull endeavour, from 
 the loole materials I have been able to collect, to 
 g've you a fnbrt delcription of it. 
 
 I had heard much of Bruges, its grandeur, and 
 its opulence; you will guels my imprife then, 
 when, on entering it, I found nothing but an oid- 
 falhioried, ill-built, irregular town ; the (beets, in 
 general, naVrow 3nd dirty, and moll of the houieji 
 iUon^ly expieifivt cf poverty and lu^ualid wie: 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 35 
 
 ednefs; yet this was anciently a moft .. flourishing 
 city. Did the difference between the town at this 
 time, and its Ra'c as it is reptcfented of old,, con fill 
 only in its external appearance, we might readily 
 account Tor that, in the great improvements mace 
 by the moderns in the art of houle-building ; but 
 its pielent inferiority goes deeper, and is the re.ult 
 of departed commerce— commeiee. that fluctuating . 
 \vill-wiih-a-wifp, that leads dates in hot purfuit 
 after it, to entrap them ultimately into miies a-d 
 precipices, and which, when caught, flays till it 
 ex'inguifhes the fpirit of freedom in a ration, re- 
 fines its people into feeble (laves, ana there leaves 
 thtm to poverty and contempt. 
 
 Perhaps there is no lubject that affords an ampler 
 field for a fpeculative mmd to expatiate npen, than 
 the various, and,. I may lav, incongruous revolu- 
 tions which have chequered the piogrtis of human 
 fociety from the firft records of hiftory dov. n to 
 the prefent time. It is indeed a lp emulation which 
 •not only tends to improve the underftancm.g, by 
 calling in experiei.ee to correct the uiufioru> of 
 theory, but is highly initiuftive in a moral point of 
 view, by pointing out. the in (lability ,cf the very 
 heft Iln'ctures of human viidom. arid teaching us 
 how little reliance is to be placed upon humaa , 
 cilualties, or earthly contingencies. Look to Gieece, 
 ore the i\ untain-heaci of arts, eloquence, ano lear- 
 ning, ;md the mother of freedom — her poets, her 
 legfluors her ioldiers, and her patriots, even to 
 this dry c< r. fidered the b.i ighleft examples of c*rth- 
 1^ g-ory !--tee her no-w lunk in flaveiy, ignorance, 
 h, and ir .reality, below any petty nation of 
 trope. Lo .• k to Uome— in her turn, the queen 
 of arms and ans, the iand of liberty, the nurle of 
 he. e ftage on which inflexible patriots, ac- 
 
 complied philofcphers, and a free people, afted 
 for centuries a drama that elevated man alraoft above 
 
36 DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 
 
 his natur- !— fee her now reduced to the lafl fiage 
 of contempubility— even below it, to ridicule and 
 laughter — Ivvayed by the mod contemptible impof- 
 ture, and lunk. into the mcft defpicabie enleve- 
 ment, both of perfon and opinion---the offices of 
 her glorious fenate performed by a kind of hetero- 
 clite being, an hermaphroditical impofture, who, 
 deducing his right "from the very dregs and offscour- 
 ings of fuperftition and fanaticifm, and aided by a 
 fet of diiciples woithy of iuch a matter, rules the 
 people, not with the terrors of the Tarpeian 
 rock, nor yet with that wh ; ch to a Roman bo- 
 fom was more terrible, banifhment— but with the 
 horrors of tternal damnation ! — lee her valiant, vi- 
 gorous foldiery convened into a band of feeble fid— 
 lers and mufic-mafters, and the clangor of her arms 
 into fhrill conceits of fqueakirg caflratoes ; thofe 
 places where her Cicero poured forth eloquence 
 divine, and pointed out the paths that led to true 
 morality---where her Brutus and her Cato mar- 
 fhallcd the forces of freedom, and raifed the arm 
 of juftrtJe againft tyrants, over-Tun by a knavifh 
 hoft of ignorant, beggarly, bald-pated friars, vomi- 
 tirg, to a crowd of gaping bigots, torrents of 
 fanatical bombaft, of miracles never performed, of 
 gods made of weed or copper, and of faints, that, 
 like themfelves, lived by impoiture and deception ! - 
 —fee her triumphs and military trophies charged 
 into pncf{T:ons of piiefts fmging plalms round wa- 
 fers and wooden crucifixes ; and the code of Fhilo- 
 fophy and religion, which operated fo efTe&ually up- 
 on the morols of her people that there was rone 
 among them found fo defperate or fo bale as. to 
 break an oath, exchanged for the Roman Catholic 
 
 blanch of the Chriftian Faith for dilpenlaticns 
 
 f or inceft, indulgences for murder, fines for 
 fornication, and an exclufive patent for adultery in 
 their priefthood. Then look to England !— fee 
 
DESCRIPTION 1 OF BRUGES. 37 
 
 h«r, who or.ce (looped beneath the yoke of Rome, 
 whofe chief. Caractacus, was carried therein 
 chains to grace his conqueror's triumphs, while 
 irerfelf was made the meaneft of the Roman pro- 
 vinces, now holding the* balance of the world, the 
 unrivalled miftiefs of arms, arts, commeice — every 
 thing. 
 
 It was in this irrefiftible mutation of things, that 
 Bruges funk from the high ftate of a molt flounfh- 
 ing city, where there are ft ill (unlels the French 
 have deftroyed them) to be ieen the remains of fe- 
 venteen palaces, anciently the refidences ot confuls 
 of different nations, each of which had diftinft 
 houfes, magnificently built and furnifhed, with 
 warehoufes for their meichandiies : and fuch was 
 the power and wealth ef the citizens in thole days, 
 that it is an indubi'able f?£t, they kept their fove- 
 reign, the Archduke Maximilian, priloner, af- 
 fronted his leivants, and abuied his officers ; nor 
 Would they releale. him until he took an oath to 
 pieferve inviolate the laws of the ftate. Even fo 
 late as the tine I was there, Biuges had iome trade 
 — indeed as g(rod a foreign trade as mod cities in 
 Fi^ndeis. The people teemed cheeiful and happy, 
 and the markets v ere tolerably jupplied. 
 
 Several fine canals run in a variety of dire ft'ons 
 f mm Bruges : by one of them, boats can go, in the 
 courle of a fuuriwer's day, to Ofterd, Neupert, 
 Fumes, aid Duivkwk ; ard viTels of four hundred 
 tuns can float in the baion of this town. Anorher 
 canal leads to Ghent, another to Damme, and ano- 
 ther to S!uy«. The water' of thoie corals is ftag- 
 nan', without the leaft> motion ; yet they can, in 
 half an four, be all emptied, and frefh water 
 brought in, by means of their well-contrived flui- 
 ces. Tois water, however, is never ufed for drink- 
 ing, or even for culinary purpofes ; a better fort 
 being conveyed through the town by pipes from the 
 
 D 
 
33 DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 
 
 N 
 
 two rivers Lys and Scheldt, as in London ; for 
 which, as there, every lioule pays a certain tax. 
 
 Although the trade of this city has, like, that of 
 all the Low Countries, been gradually declining, 
 and daily fucked into the vortices of Britifh and 
 Dutch commerce, there were, till the French en- 
 tered it, many rich merchants there, who met every 
 day at noon in the great market-place, to communi- 
 cate and tranlacr, bufmefs, which was chiefly done 
 in the Flemifh language, hardly any one in it l'peak- 
 ing French ; a circumftance that by this time, is 
 much altered — for they have been already made, if 
 not to fpeak French, at lead to fing Ca-ira 9 and 
 dance to the tune of it too, to fome purpofe. 
 
 The once-famed grandeur of this city confified 
 chiefly, like that of all grand places in the dark 
 periods of Popery,, of the gloomy piles, the often- 
 tatious frippery, and unwieldy maffes of wealth, 
 accumulated by a long feries of monkifh impoflure 
 — of Gothic flruftures, of enormous fize and fable 
 afpect., filled with dreary cells, calculated to flrike 
 the fouls of the ignorant and enthufiaftic with holy 
 horror, to inlpire awe of the places, and venera- 
 tion for the per'ons who dared to inhabit them, 
 and, by enfeeblmg the reafon with the mixed ope- 
 rations of horror, woncier, and reverence, to fit 
 the credulous for the reception of every impofi- 
 tion, however grois in conception, or bungled in 
 execution. Thofe are the things which conftituted 
 the greatr.efs and Iplendoi of the cities of ancient 
 Chriffendom ; to thoie V.as the f urdiefl human 
 v.^cur and intellect, been forced to bend the kn^es : 
 they were built to enduie the outrages of time; 
 and will fhnd, I am fure, long, long after their 
 power (hall have been annihilated. 
 
 What a powerful engine has luperflition been, in 
 the cunning management of priefts ! How lamenta- 
 ble it is to think,, that not only all who believed, 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. ^0 
 
 but all who had good fenfe enough not to believe 
 fhould, for fo many centuries, have been kept in 
 prcftrate fubmiirion to the will and dominion of an 
 old man in Rome ! — My blufhes for the folly and 
 fupinenefs of mankind, however, are loft in a war:n 
 glow of tranfport at the preient irradiation of the 
 human mind ; and though 1 can icarcely think With 
 patience of that glorious, godlike being, Henry 
 the Second of England, being obliged by the Pope 
 to lath himfelf naked at the tomb of that laucy, 
 wicked prieft, Thomas a Becket, 1 felicitate 
 myfelf with the rehVcton, t liar the Pope is now 
 the mod contemptible lovereign in Europe, and 
 that the Papal authority, which was once ih& ter- 
 ror and the Icouige of rlic e-uh, is Row not only 
 not recognitcd, but feMdTfl thought of, ahd, \ 
 thought of, only letvcs to excite iaughici oi 
 difguft, 
 
 TETTER VII. 
 
 T 
 
 HE town of Bruges, although the 
 flreets be, as I have already defer ibed' them, io 
 mean, narrow, dirty, and irregular in general, con- 
 tains, neverthelefs, fome few Pireets that are tolera- 
 ble, and a few fquares alfo that are far from con- 
 temptible. — I fhould think it, neverthelefs, not 
 worth another letter of description, were it not 
 that the churches, and church-curiofuies, demand 
 our attention ; for you will observe, that in all rich 
 Popifh countries, every church is a holy toy-fhop, 
 or rather a mufeum, where pictures, flatties, gold 
 cups, irlver candlefticks, diamond crucifixes, and 
 gods, of various forts and dimenfions, are hoarded 
 
40 DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 
 
 up, in honour of the Supreme Being. This city 
 having been for centuries the fee of a bifhop, who 
 is fufFragan to the archbifnop of Mecklin, and at 
 the lame time hereditary chancellor of Flanders, it 
 is not to be wondered at, if ecclefiaftical induftry 
 fhould have amailed fome of thole little trinkets 
 which ccnftitute the chief or only value of their 
 church. The mitre of this place conveys to the 
 head that wears it a diocele containing fix cities, 
 from the names of which you will be able to form 
 fome lraall judgment of the opulence of one poor 
 fon of abftinence and mortification. — Thoie cities 
 are, in the fir ft place, Bruges itfelf, then Ofiend, 
 Sluys, Damme, Middleburgh in Flanders, and 
 Oudenbeich — not to mention one hundred and 
 thirty-three boroughs and villages; and if you 
 could compute the number of inferior clergy with 
 which the ftreets and highways aie filled, you 
 would be thunclerflruck. There, and in all thuie 
 Popifh countries, they may be leen, with giotelque 
 habits asd bald pates, buzzing up and down hke 
 bees, in fwarms, (a precious hive !) — and, with 
 the* mod vehement proteflations of voluntary po- 
 verty in their mouths, and e\es uplifted to Hea- 
 ven, Icianibiirg for the good things of the earth 
 with the eag.niels of a pack of hounds, and the 
 rapacity of a whole roll of lawyers! With loaqexl 
 thighs (I might lay, loaded arms too, for they have 
 la ge pockets even in their fleeves, for the conceal- 
 ment of moveables), they return to the great hive, 
 where, contrary to the law of bees, the dione lives 
 in idle (late, and he plunders them : contrary, too, 
 to the habits of thoie ufeful infe&s," they banifh the 
 queen-bee, and fufTer no female to approach their 
 cells, but keep them in contiguous hives, where, 
 under cover of the night, they vifit them, and ful- 
 fil in private that which they deny in public — the 
 great command of Providence* 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 4* 
 
 The fir ft building in nominal rank, though by 
 no means the firft in value, is the great cathedra!, 
 which has at lead bulk, antiquity, and gloomineis 
 enough to recommend it to the faithful. It is by 
 no means unfurnifhed within, though not in io re- 
 markable a manner as to induce me to fill a letter 
 with it. In a word, it is an old Popifh cathedral, 
 and cannot be fuppofed wanting in wealth : at the 
 time I write, it has been {landing no lets a time 
 than nine hundred and twenty-nine years, having 
 been built in the year 865. 
 
 The next that occurs to me, as worthy of notice, 
 is the church of Notre Dame, or that dedicated to 
 our Lady the Virgin Mary. This is really a beau- 
 tiful flruclure of the kind — indeed magnificent. 
 Its fleeple is beyond conception ftupendous, being 
 fo very high as to be feen at lea off Oflend, al- 
 though it is not elevated in the imallefr degree by 
 any rife in the ground : for, fo very flat is the 
 Whole intermediate country, that I believe it would 
 puzzle a fkilful leveller to find two feet elevation 
 from high-water-ma; k at Odend up to this city. 
 The contents of this church are conefpondenl to 
 its external appearance — being enriched and beau- 
 tified with a vail variety of iacerdotal trinkets, and 
 fine tombs and monuments. As to the former, the 
 veftments of that lame Thomas a Becket whom 
 I mentioned in my laft, make a part of the cuiiofi- 
 ties depouted in this church : this furious and in- 
 flexible impoflor was archbifbop of Canterbury ; 
 and his flruggles to en {lave both the king and peo- 
 ple of England, an"d make them tributary to the 
 Pope, have canonized him, and obtained the very 
 honourable depot I mention for his veftments. To 
 dojuftice, however, to the fpirit and fagaciiy of 
 the holy fathers who have fo long taken the pains 
 to preserve them, it mud be commemorated, that 
 they are, or at leafl were fet with diamonds, and 
 
 D 2 
 
42 DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 
 
 other precious ftones ! Probably, among the many 
 priefts who have, in (o many centuries, had the 
 cuftody of thofe divine relics, fome one, more fa- 
 £acious than the reft, might conceive, that, to lie 
 in a church, and be feen by the all-believing eyes 
 of the faithful, a little coloured glais was juft as 
 good as any precious ftone, and wifely have con- 
 verted the originals to fome better purpofe. If fo, 
 it will be fome coniolation to Holy Mother Church 
 to rtfle£t, that die has bilked the Sans -culottes, who 
 certain! v have got poffeffton of Saint Thomas a 
 Becket's facerdotol petticoats ; and, if thev have 
 been found enough to ftand the cutting, have, by 
 this time, converted them into comfortable cam- 
 paigning breeches. O monftroas ! wicked ! abo- 
 minable ! — that the Reyal Mary, filler to the great 
 Emperor Charles the Fifth, fhould, lo long ago 
 as the Refoimaiion, have bought at an immenie 
 price, and depofited in the treafury of the church 
 of cur Lady the bleffed Virgin Mary, the veft- 
 men'.s of a faint, only to make breeches, in the 
 year 1794, for a French foldier ! The time has 
 been, when the bare fuggeftion of fuch facrilege 
 would have turned the brain of half the people 
 of Chrifteudom : but thofe things are now better 
 managed. 
 
 Of the tombs in this church, I fliall only mention 
 two, as diQinguifhed from the reft by their coftlU 
 nels, magnificence, and antiquity. They are made 
 of copper, well gilt. Ohc of them is the tomb of 
 Mary, heirefs to the Ducal Houfe of Burgundy ; 
 and the other, that of Charles (commonly called 
 the Hardy), Duke of Burgundy, h«r faiher. 
 
 In B.uges there were four great abbeys, and an 
 amazing number of convents and nunneries. The 
 buildings, I prefume, yet ftand ; but there is little 
 doubt that their contents, of every kind, have been, 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 4$ 
 
 before this, put in requisition, and each part of them, 
 of courfe, applied to its natural ufe. 
 
 The cliutch once belonging to the Jefuits, is buiU 
 in a noble (tyle of architecture : and that of the D.r- 
 minicans has not only its external merits, but its 
 internal value ; for, befidcs the ufual fuperabun- 
 dance of rich chalices, &c. it poffelTes iome very 
 great curiofities — 
 
 As, firft, a very curious, highly wrought pulpit 
 — beautiful in itlelf, but remarkable for the top be- 
 ing fupported by wood, cut out, in the mod natu- 
 ral, deceptive manner, in the form of ropes, and 
 which beguile the fpe£titor the more into a belief 
 cf its reality, becaule it arvlwers the purpofes of 
 ropes. 
 
 Secondly, a picture — and fo extraordinary a pic- 
 ture ! Before I defcribe it, I mult apprifeyou that 
 your faith muft be almoffc as great as that of a Spa- 
 nifli Chriltian to believe me — to believe that the 
 human intellect ever lunk fo low as, in the firft in- 
 fUnce, to conceive, and, in the next, to harbour 
 and admire, fuch a piece. But I miftakf — it has 
 i;s merit ; it is a curiohty---the demon of iatire 
 himfelf could not wifh for a greater. 
 
 This picture, then, is the reprefentation of a mar- 
 riage !--but of whom ? why, truly, of Jesus 
 Christ with Saint Catharine of Sienna. Ob- 
 f~rve the congruity — Saint Catharine of Sienna 
 lived many centuries after the tranflition of Jesus 
 Chr ist to Heaven, where he is to (it, you know, 
 till he comes to judge the quick and the dead ! — 
 But who marries them ? In truth, Saint Dominic, 
 the pation of this church ! The Virgin Mary 
 joins their hands — :hat is not ami Is — But, to crown 
 the whole, King David himfelf, who died fo 
 long before Christ was born, plays the harp at 
 
44 DESCRIPTION OF BRUGES. 
 
 My dear Frederick, I (hall take it as no fmall 
 iti fiance of your dutiful opinion of me to believe, 
 that fuch a picture exilled, ?nd made part of the 
 holy paraphernalia of a temple coniecrated to the 
 worfnip of the Divinity : but I allure you it is a 
 faft ; and as I have never given you reaion to fuf- 
 pt 6t my veracity, I exneft you to believe me in this 
 inftance, improbable though it feems : for iuch a 
 fan-ago of abiurdities, fucn a jumble of incongrui- 
 ties, impoflibilities, bulls, and tnachronii'ms, never 
 *yet were compreffed, by the human imagination, 
 into the fame narrow compafs. 
 
 I protract this letter bevond my ufual length, on 
 purpole to conclude my account of Bruges, and get 
 once more upon the road. 
 
 The monaflery of the Carthufians, another order 
 of friars, is of amazing fize. covering an extent of 
 ground not much lefs than a mile in circumference. 
 The Carmelites, another order, have a church here, 
 in which there is raifed a beautiful monument, to 
 the memory of Henry Jermyn, Lord Dover, a 
 peer of England — But the monaflery called the 
 Dunes, a {eft of the order of Saint Bernard, is 
 by far the noblefl in the whole city; the cloifters 
 ■and gardens are capacious and handfome; the apart- 
 ment of the abbot is magnificent and (lately, and 
 thofe of the monks themfelves unufually neat. 
 Thofe poor mortified penitents, fecluded from the 
 pomps, the vanities, and enjoyments of life, and 
 their thoughts no doubt re fling alcne on hereafter, 
 keep, nevertheless, a fumptuous table, fpread with 
 every luxury of the fcafon — have their country- 
 feats, where they go a hunting, or to refrefh them- 
 felves, and actually keep their own coaches. 
 
 Among the nunneries there are two Englifh : 
 one of Auguftinian nuns, who aie all ladies of 
 quality, and who entertain flrangers at the giate with 
 fweet-meais and wine j the other, called the Pcli- 
 
PASSAGE TO GHENT. AS 
 
 cans, is of a very drift order, and wear a coatfe 
 dreis. 
 
 To conclude — In the chapel of Saint Basil is 
 faid to be kept, in perfect prefervation, the blood 
 which Joseph of Arimathea wiped off with a 
 fponge from the dead body of Christ. Finis 
 coronat opus, 
 
 I fancy you have, by this time, had as much of 
 miracles as you can well digeft : I therefore leave 
 you to reflect upon them and improve- 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Jjli 
 
 .S I was going to the barque, at Bruges', 
 to take my departure for Ghenr, the next town in 
 my route, I was furpriied to fee a number of ofrp- 
 cious, bui'y, poor fellows, crowding round my 
 effects, and feizing them— fome my trunk, fome 
 my portmanteau, &c. 1 believe two or three to 
 each : but my aftonifhment partly lubfided when I 
 was told that they were porters, who plied on the 
 canal,, and about the city, for fubfidence, and only 
 came to have the honour of carraying my baggage 
 down to the veffel. Noting their eagerneis. 1 could 
 not help f tailing. I know there are thoie, and i 
 have heard of iuch, who would bluffer at them : 
 but my mirth at the buttling importance which the 
 poor fellows affected, foon funk into ferious con- 
 cern ; I laid within mylelf, " Alas, how hard tnuft 
 be your lot indee 1 !" and my imagination was in 
 an inflant back again in London, where a porter 
 often makes you pay for a job, not in money only,. 
 but in patience alio, and where the furlinefs of in- 
 dependence Icowis upon his brow as he does you-i' 
 
46 PASSAGE TO GHENT. 
 
 work. Every one of my men demanded a remu- 
 neration for his labour : one man could have eafilv 
 done the vvoik of ftve---but I refolveu not to Tend 
 them away discontented : he is but a fordid churl 
 that would ; and I paid them to their full fatisfac- 
 tion. Here, my dear Frederick., let me offer 
 you (fince it occurs) my parental advice on this 
 point— from the practice of which you will gain 
 more lolid felicity than you can poflibly be aware 
 of now : never weigh IcrupulouHy the value of the 
 work of the poor ; rather exceed than fall fhort of 
 rewarding it : it is a very, very fmall thing, that 
 will put them in good humour with you and with 
 themfelves, and relax the hard furrows of labour 
 into die ioit fmile of gratitude—a fmile which, to 
 a heart of fenfibility luch as yours, will, of itfeif, 
 ten-thouiand-fold repay you, even though the fre- 
 quent practice of it fhould abiidge you of a few of 
 thole things called plealures, or detraft a little from 
 the weight of your puife. 
 
 Being again feated in my barque, I fet off for 
 Ghent, a city lying at a diftance of twenty-four 
 miles from Bruges. I mud here remark to you, 
 that the companv one meets in thofe vefiels is not 
 alwavs of the firft rank; it is generally of a mixed, 
 motley kind : but to a man who carries along with 
 him, through his navels, a love for his fellow-crea- 
 tures, and a defne to iee men, and their cuftoms 
 and manners, it is both plealant and eligible— -at 
 lead I thought it [o y and enjoyed it. There were 
 thofe amongil us who fpoke rather loftily on that 
 {abject : I laid nothing ; but it brought to my mind 
 a reflection 1 have often had occafion to concur in, 
 v.z. that a faftidious ufurpation of dignity (happily 
 denominated Jiatdinefs) is the never-fading mark of 
 an unftait or a blockhead. The man of true digni- 
 ty, lelf-ereft and ffrong, needs not have recourie. 
 fuv fuppen, to the comparative wrctchedneis of his 
 
PASSAGE TO GHENT. 47 
 
 fellow-creature, or plume him r elf upon fpurious 
 Superiority. Yi>u will underftand me, however ! 
 When I fay, ii the man of true dignity," I am far, 
 very far, from meaning a lord, a iquire, a banker, 
 or a general officer---! mean a man of intrinfic 
 \vorth---homo emun&se naris---one who, in every 
 flation into which chance may throw him, feels 
 firm in the conlcioufnels of right— -who can lee and 
 chenfh merit, ihough enveloped and concealed be- 
 hind a ihabby iuit of cloihes— -and who fcorns the 
 biown-up fool of fortune, that without fenle or fen- 
 timen 1 ', without virtue, wifdom, or courage, pre- 
 fumes to call himlelf great, merely becaule he pof- 
 feifes a few acres of earth which he had neither the 
 induftry nor merit to earn, or becaule his great- 
 great-gteat-grandfather purchafed a title by perfidy 
 to his country, the plunder of his fellow-citizens, 
 or the {laughter of mankind. 
 
 Although the face of that part of the country 
 through which we are now paffing, like that of the 
 preceding flage from O fiend to Bruges, wants di- 
 ve; fry, it has its charms, and would be particularly 
 delightful in the eye of an Englifh farmer ; for it 
 is covered with the thickeQ verdure on each fide 
 of the canal, and the banks are decoraied all along 
 by rows of flalely trees, while the fields in the 
 back ground are cultivated to the higheft degree of 
 perfection, and bear the afpett of producing the 
 mod abundant harveft. 
 
 You will be able to form a judgment of the trif- 
 ling expence of travelling in this country, from 
 my expences in this ftage of twenty- four miles. 
 I had an excellent dinner for about fifteen pence of 
 cur money ; my paffage cod me but fixteen more, 
 amounting in all to two {hillings and ieven pence : 
 compare that with travelling in England, where 
 one cannot rile up from an indifferent dinner, in 
 
<$ PASSAGE TO GHENT. 
 
 ^71 inn, under five {"hillings at the lead, arid you 
 milft be aftoniflied at the difproportion. 
 
 Ghent is the capital of Flanders, and is to be 
 reckoned among the largeft cities of Europe, as it 
 covers a fpace of ground of not lefs than feven 
 miles in circumference-, but there is not above one 
 half of that occupied with buildings, the greater 
 part being thrown into fields, gardens, orchards, 
 and pleaiurc-grounds. Situated on four navigable 
 rivets, and interic&ed into no fewer than twenty- 
 fix iflands by a number of canals, which afford an 
 eaiy. cheap, and expeditious carriage for weighty 
 merchandize, it rmy be confiirred, in point of 
 local advantages for commerce, {uper.or to moft 
 cities in Euiope; while thofe iflands are again 
 united by about a hundred bi idge?. fotne great and 
 feme ImaiJ, which contrbute much to the beauty 
 cf the ciry. 
 
 To a man ace ftomed to mould his thoughts by 
 what he fees in G eat Britain, the ftrorg fortifica- 
 tions that fur round almoft all towns on the Conti- 
 nent convey the moft ciiiagreeable lenlations---ie- 
 mindmg him of the firft mifery of mankind, War ! 
 ---denoting, alas \ roo truly, the dilpofiuon of man 
 to v.olae the r:ghts of his fellow-creatures, and 
 manifefHng the tyrannous abufe of power. On 
 n. , though trained and accuftomed to militaiy ha- 
 b. s, th;6 " dreadful note of preparation" had an 
 i ■ 1> afing ehe£t ; for, though born, bred, and ha- 
 1 .iated to tie life of a foldier, I find the feelings 
 of the citizen and the man claim a paramount right 
 l y heart. 
 
 Ghent was once extremely well fortified, and 
 calculated, by nature as well as by art, to repel en- 
 croachment. It had a very ftrong caftle, walls, 
 and ditches ; and now, though not otherwile 
 ftrong, the country may, by (hutting up the flui- 
 eei>, be, for above a mile round, laid in a veiy 
 
PASSAGE TO GHENT. 49 
 
 fhort time under water. It was formerly fo popu- 
 lous and powerful, that it declared war more than 
 ©nee againfl its fovereign, and railed amazing ar- 
 mies. In the year 1587, it luffered dreadfully from 
 all the ravages of famine, under which a number 
 not lels than three ihoufand of its inhabitants pe- 
 rifhed in one week. 
 
 This town is diitinguifhed by the nativity of two 
 celebrated charu&eis : one was the famous Johm 
 of Gaunt, ion of K-ng Edward the third of 
 England; the other, the Emperor Chari.es the 
 Fifth, who was born there in the year 1500. 
 
 It was in this city that the Confedeiation of the 
 Slates, well known under the title of the Pacifica- 
 tion of Ghent, which united the Provinces in the 
 mod lafting union of in'ereft and laws, was held : 
 this union was chiefly owing o the vigorous, un- 
 remitted tfforts of William the Firfl, Prince of 
 Orange, to whofe valour and virtue may be attri- 
 buted the independence of the United States. 
 
 In this city there were computed to be fiftv com- 
 panies of tradefmen, among whom weie manufac- 
 tured a variety of very cunous and rich cloths, ftuffs, 
 and filks : it is certain, that the woollen manufac- 
 ture flouri{b?d here before it had made the Jmalleit 
 progrefs in England, whole wool they then bought* 
 There was alio a • ood branch of linen manufacture 
 here, and a pretty brifk corn trade, for which it 
 was locally well calculated. You will obferve, 
 once for all, ;ha< in ipeaking of this country, I 
 generally uie the pall tenle ; for, at prefent, they 
 are utterly undone. 
 
 Ghent was the lee of a bifhop, who, ] : ke the 
 bifhop of Bruges, was iuffragan to the archbilhop 
 of Mechlin. Thus, in moil Chriflian countries, 
 ore the intellect, the consciences, and the cafh too, 
 of the people, fhut up and hid from the light, by 
 prieft within dean, and dean within bifhop — like 
 
 E 
 
$0 PASSAGE TO GHENT. 
 
 a ring in the hand of a conjurer, bc.x within box 
 —till at laft they are enveloped in the great lecep- 
 tacle of all deception, the capacious packet of the 
 archbilhop. Let not fcepteied tyrants, their legi- 
 ons, their fcaffolds,' and their {words, bear all the 
 infamy of the flavery of mankind ! Opinion, 
 opinion, uncei the management of fraud and im- 
 pofture, is the engine that forges their fetters ! ! — 
 Jansenius, from whom the Janienifts took their 
 name, was the fir ft bifhep of this place ; and the 
 late bifhop, I think, may be reckoned the laft. 
 
 The municipal government of this city is con eel:, 
 and well calculated to lecure internal peace and or- 
 der. The chief magiftrate is the high bailiff; fub- 
 ordicate to whom are burgomafters, echivins, and 
 counsellors. 
 
 Ghent is not deficient in ftately edifices ; and, 
 true to their lyftcm, the holy fathers of the church 
 have their (hare, which, in old Popifh countries, 
 is at leaft nineteen twentieths. In the middle of 
 the town is a high tower, called Belfort tower : 
 from whence there is a delightful profpect ovet the 
 whole city and its environs. Monafteries and 
 churches, there, are without number ; befides hof- 
 pitais and maiket-places : that called Friday's mar- 
 ket, is the largeft of all, and is adorned with a fta- 
 tue of Charles the Fifth, in his imperial robes. 
 The ftadthoule is a magnificent ftru£hne — So is the 
 cathedral, under wh-ch the reverend fathers have 
 built a lubtenaneous church. What deeds are thofe 
 which (hun the 1 ght ! Why thofe holy patriarchs 
 have iuch a defire for buiying themlelvcs, and 
 working kike moles under ground, they themfelves 
 be ft know, and 1 trunk it is not difficult for others 
 to to jecture. 
 
 This cathedral, however, is well worth atten- 
 tion. 01 accoun of Come capital pictures it contains. 
 The marble of the chuich is remaikably fine, and 
 
JOURNEY FROM GHENT, &c. 51 
 
 ihe altar-piece fplendid beyond all poffible defcrip- 
 tion : and, indeed, in all the others, there are 
 paintings, eminent for their own excellence, and 
 for the celebrity of the mailers who painted them. 
 
 In the mo nailery of Sr. Pierre, there is a grand 
 library, filled with bosks in all languages ; but it is 
 chiefly remarkable for the fuperlative beauty of 
 its ceiling, one half of which vyas painted by Ru- 
 bens. 
 
 Thus you may perceive, my dear Frederick, 
 the charity of the clergy ! — how, in pure pity for 
 the tins of nnnkind, and in paternal care of their 
 fouls, they exa£l from the laity fome atonement for 
 their crimes, and conftrain them at leail to repent 
 — and, with unparakeie.l magnanimity, take 
 themielvcs the vice,-), the gluttony, the ?. v. 
 and the fenfuality, of which they aie lo caiefui 10 
 purge their fellow-creatures. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 H 
 
 .AVTNG given you a general outline 
 of the city of Ghent, 1 fhall now proceed to give 
 you an account of one of the mo ft excellent, and 
 certainly the moft interefting, of all the curiofities 
 in that place. It is indeed of a fort lo immediately 
 correfpondent to the moft exalted fenfations of hu- 
 manity, and fo perfcclly in unilon with the moft 
 exquifitely fenfible chords of the feeling heart, 
 thac I relblved to refcue it from the common 
 lumber of the place, and give it to you in a fiefh 
 letter, when the ideas excited by my former might 
 have faded away, and left your mind more clear for 
 the reception of fuch refined imprefiiens. 
 
J2 JOURNEY FROM 
 
 On one of the many bridges in Ghent Hand two 
 large brazen images of a father and fon, who ob- 
 tained this diftinguifhed mark of the admiration of 
 their fellow-citizens by the following incidents : 
 
 Both the father and the ion were, for lome of- 
 fence againft the Mate, condemned to die. Some 
 favourable ciicumftances appearing on the fide of 
 the Ion, he was granted a remiffion of his fhare of 
 the fentence, upon certain provifions — in (horr, 
 he was offered a pardon, on the mod cruel and 
 barbarous condition that ever entered into the mind 
 of even monkifh barbarity, namely, that he would 
 become the executioner of his father ! He at fiiffc 
 rclolufely refuied to prelerve his life by means :o 
 fatal and deteftablc : This is not to be wondered 
 at ; for I hope, for the honour of our nature, that 
 there are but few, very few fons, who would not 
 have fpurned, with abhorrence, life fuftained on 
 lit ions I© horrid, io unnatural. The fon, 
 > ;gh long inflexible, was at length overcome by 
 tl • crari and entreaties of a fond father, who re- 
 p r meti 'O him, at all events, his (the father's) 
 ],; v > forffi red. and that it would be the greatefi: 
 t »lTib : conlolaiion to h m, ar his la ft monents, to 
 tj • k hat in nib death he was the inftrument of his 
 fo-i's > reservation. The youth confen'ed to adopt 
 the homble meani of recovering his l;fc and liber- 
 ty ; he lifted the axe ; but. as it was about to fall, 
 h < , rin iunk nervelefs, and the axe dropped from 
 his haau ! Ha.\ he as many lives as hairs, he would 
 have yielded them all, one after the other, rather 
 than again even conceive, much lefs perpetrate, 
 fuch an a&. L.fe. liberty, every thing, vanifhed 
 before the dearer in'ereils of filial affection : he 
 fell upon his father's neck, and, embracing him, 
 triumphantly exclii.ned, ii My father, my father I 
 we will die together !*' and then called for ano- 
 ther cxjcxiouer to fuini the fentence of the law. 
 
GHENT TO BRUSSELS. S$ 
 
 Hard muft be their hearts indeed, bereft of eve-* 
 ry fentiment of virtue, every fenfation of huma- 
 nity, who could (land infenfible Spectators of Such, 
 a fcene — A Sudden peal of involuntary applaufes, 
 mixed with groans and fighs, rent the air. The 
 execution was fufpended ; and on a Simple repre- 
 sentation of the tranSactJon, both were pardoned : 
 high rewards and honours were conferred on the 
 fon ; and finally, thole two admirable brazen ima- 
 ges were raifed, to commemorate a tranSa£lion fo 
 honourable to human nature, and tranfmit it for 
 the inftru&ion and emulation of pofterity. The 
 flatue reprefents the Ion in the very a£l of letting 
 fall the axe. 
 
 Lay this to your mind, my dear Frederick : 
 talk over it to your brother ; indulge all the charm- 
 ing Sympathetic fenfalions it communicates : never 
 let a mi'laken fhame, or a falfe idea (which fome 
 endeavour to imprefs) that it is unmaniy to melt at 
 the tale of wo©, and Sympathize with our fellow- 
 creatures, flop the current of your fenfibility — no ! 
 Be affured, that, on the contrary, it is the true 
 criterion of manhood and valour to feel ; and that 
 the more Sympathetic and fenfible the heart is, the 
 more nearly it is allied to. the Divinity. 
 
 I am now on the point of conducting you out of 
 Auftrian Flanders — One town only, and that com- 
 paratively a Small one, lying between Us and Bra- 
 bant : the name of this town is Aloft, or, as the 
 Flemings Spell it, A el ft. 
 
 From Ghent to Bruflels (the next great ftage in 
 my way), I found, to my regret, that there was no 
 conveyance by water : I therefore was obliged to 
 go in a voiture, and ftopt at Aloft, as an interme- 
 diate ftage ; ltd mathematically intermediate it is— 
 for it lies at equal diftance from Ghent and Bsuffels, 
 being exactly fifteen miles from each, 
 
 E 2 
 
54 JOURNEY FROM GHENT, &c. 
 
 This is a fmall, but exceeding neat (own, fituated 
 on the river Dender •, and being a remarkably great 
 thoroughfare accommodations of every kind are to- 
 lerably good in it. It would be idle to fuppofe, 
 that Catholic zeal had left lo many fouls unprotected 
 and undlfciplined, where there were fo many bo- 
 dies capable of diudgery to pay for it. In truth, 
 there has been as ample provifion made for the 
 town of Aloft in the way of facerdotal bufi'nefs, as 
 for any other town in the Netherlands — regard be- 
 ing had to its bulk ; for there were feveral convents 
 of friars, and of courfe feveral of nurvs : befides, 
 there was a Jefuit's college of fome note. How 
 they all Fare by this time, it is difficult for me to 
 determine. 
 
 The church of Saint Martin could boaft oF 
 fome excellent pictures, particularly a moft capital 
 piece, li La Prfte," by Rubens, 
 
 In a convent inhabited by a let of monks,, deno- 
 mined Gulielmite, I faw the tomb of Thierry 
 Martin, whofirft brought the art of printing from 
 Germany to that place. His name and fame are 
 tranfmitted to us by an epitaph upon his tomb, 
 written by his friend, the ingenious Erafmus. 
 
 This tomb of Thierry Martin (lands a mon- 
 ument, not only of his merit, but of the fhort- 
 fightednefs and folly even of monks. Alas, filly- 
 men ! they little knew, that when they granted 
 Thierry Martin the honours of the convent, 
 they were harbouiing, in their hallowed ground, 
 one of their greateft enemies, and commemorating 
 the man who was contributing to the overthrow of 
 their iacred order : for the art of printing, where- 
 ever it reached, illuminated the human mind, and 
 fir ft kindled up that light, before which prieftcraft, 
 and all its pious impoftures, like evil fpectres, have 
 vanifhed. To the art of printing is human fociety 
 indebted for many of the advantages which it pof- 
 
REVIEW OF AUSTRIAN FLANDERS. $S 
 
 feffes beyond the brute or favage tribes — for the 
 perfection of arts, the extension of fcience, the 
 general enlargement of the mind, and, above all, 
 for the emancipation of perlon and property from 
 the ihackles of defpotifm, and of the human in- 
 tellect from the fetters of Mine* eft and ignorance 
 with which facerdotal fraud had chained it for cen- 
 turies to the earth. 
 
 The territory of this city is of pretty large ex- 
 tent, and is called a county, having, in ancient 
 times, had counts of its own ; and the whole of it 
 is extremely fruitful in pafture, corn, hops, flax, 
 and mod other productions of thole climes. 
 
 I made but a very fhort flay at Aloft, when I 
 proceeded on to Bruflels \ and, having thus brought 
 you through that part of the Netherlands called 
 Auftrian Flanders, I think I ought to giv*e you a 
 general account of the country at large, as I have 
 hitherto confined myfelf merely to the cities and 
 towns of it ; but as this letter is already of a length 
 that will not allow of any great addition, I fhail 
 poftpone my intended description to my next. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 W 
 
 ERE mankind to be guided by mo- 
 deration, reafon, and juftice — were there no luft 
 for territory in particular dates — no ambition or 
 defire in kings for an undue enlargement of their 
 power — no unjuftinable infractions attempted by 
 one ftate or potentate upon the peace and poflef- 
 iion of another — no armies to carry defolaiion and 
 plunder through the world, nor churchmen more 
 mild, but not more moderate, to drain them with 
 
56 REVIEW OF AUSTRIAN FLANDERS, 
 
 their fub'le deceptions — were the hufbandman, the 
 fifherman, the manufacturer, and the labourer, per- 
 mitted io make, by their induftry, the beft ule of 
 the {oil on which chance or nature had planted 
 them, and to Hit the fruits of their labour to their 
 own lips — no peo/'e were more happy than the 
 inhabitants of Auftrian Fianders. 
 
 This country is bounded, to the north, by the 
 Scheldt ; to the north-weft, by the Northern Sea : 
 to the fouth, and louth-weft, by Artois, one of the 
 fined Provinces of France; and to the call, by 
 Brabant. Its greateft length is leventy-five miles j 
 and its greateit breadth, fifty-Eve. The air is 
 good ; but it is faid to be better in proportion as it 
 recedes from the (ea. The winters are fometimes 
 long and fevere, and the fumrners iometimes wet 
 and fultry ; yet, in general, the climate is agreea- 
 ble. The foil is in moft parts fertils, and in fome 
 to a degree equal to that of any part of Europe. 
 It is chiefiy famous for its paMurage ; in confe- 
 rence of which, great numbers of black cattle, 
 hories and fheep, are bred in it, and immenfe quan- 
 tities of butter and cheefe made. It is, befides, 
 abundantly productive of all forts of culinary vege- 
 tables — fruit in great quantities — corn and flax, 
 which laft is not only railed in great plenty, but is 
 celebrated for the hnenefs and ftrength of its flaple. 
 It is true, that in fome parts they have not corn 
 fufficient for the inhabitants : but this is well re- 
 compenfed by other productions, with the redun- 
 dance of which they purchafe the fupeifiuous grain 
 of their neighbours — for, where the inhabitants do 
 follow tillage, the produce is unequalled, and the 
 luperfluuy muft of courfe be great. 
 
 The iuperHor fecundity of the fheep of this 
 country is very remaikible, and difficult, perhaps, 
 to be accounted for — a ewe here bringing forth, 
 conftantly three lambs at a birth, iometimes four, 
 
REVIEW OF AUSTRIAN FLANDERS, ft 
 
 fometimes five, and fome have been known to pro- 
 duce as many as fix and ieven — no (mall inftance 
 of the prodigality of nature in providing for this 
 fpot. 
 
 At fome di dance from the fea-coaft, the face of 
 the country is decorated with a profufion of wood, 
 fitted either for timber Or for fuel ; and towards the 
 coaft, where nature has been rather niggaid of that 
 blefling, the inhabitants Iubllituie, in its llead, for 
 fuel, a kind of turf, which they find at the depth 
 of four or five feet frem the lurface of the earth, 
 and which makes a fire, not only cheerful, plea- 
 lant, and hot, but remarkably whoieiome, being 
 free from the deltru&ive iulphurious and bitumi- 
 nous vapour attendant upon coal. 
 
 Perhaps no part of the world is better fupplied 
 th n this province with all Ions of filh, as well 
 thoie of fea as fredi water : fowl and venifon were 
 extremely plenty and reafonable ; and a great cit^l 
 ol excellent beer w.\s brewed in it. It is wafhed 
 by ieveral rivers:, four of which are noble ftreatns, 
 namely, the Scheldt, the Lys, the Scarpe, and the 
 Dcnder; and there are feveral canals, the chief of 
 which is that be: ween Br iges and Ghent. 
 
 Thus in whatever way it be confidered, nature 
 feems to have made ample provthon for the hap pi- 
 nefs of the people : how far they are fo, you (hall 
 hear when I come to give a general view of the 
 Netherlands — hat which is applicable to Auftrian 
 Inlanders being equally lo to all the other parts of 
 the Netherlands, excepting thole under the domi- 
 nion of the Republic of the United Stares. 
 
 The States of this country, according to the con- 
 ftitution it once poffeffed, con filled of ciergv, tr.e 
 nobility, and the commoners. The clergy were 
 the bifhops and abbots : the nobility was compoled 
 of certain families holding hereditary offices or 
 baronies, to which that privilege was annexed; and 
 
58 REVIEW OF AUSTRIAN FLANDERS. 
 
 the commoners were made up of the burgomaflers, 
 penfioners and deputies of the cities and difln£ta. 
 But the only religion profefled or tolerated in this 
 country, was the Roman Catholic. 
 
 Of the people of Auftrian Flanders a celebrated 
 Author gives the following account, which I tranf- 
 cribe for your ufe, the rather as my flay there was 
 too fhort to enable me to make any material obfer- 
 vations on them, or their manners. — 
 
 ii With re I peel: to the per Tons and characters of 
 the inhabitants," fays he, " they are, generally 
 fpeaking, lufty, fat, and clumfy — very indufti ious, 
 both in cultivating their lands, and in their trades 
 and manufactures — lovers of liberty, and enemies to 
 flavery — and not defective in good fenfe or judg- 
 ment, though they have not lo lively an imagina- 
 tion as fome other nations. Their women are foir, 
 handfome enough, and hone ft by .their natural con- 
 stitution, as well as from a principle of virtue : as 
 they cannot pretend to wit and repartee, they do 
 not make themfelves ridiculous by the nauieous 
 afTe&aiion of them. Both fexes are great lovers of 
 public diversions; and every city, town, and vil- 
 lage, have their kermifles, or fans, in which all 
 forts of fhews are exhibited." 
 
 Many arts which now enrich other nations, and 
 the importance ©f which has excited contefts and 
 ftruggles of the moll ferious kind in the political 
 world, were invented or improved in that country. 
 Weaving, in general, though not invented, was 
 greatly improved ; and the art of forming figures 
 of all forts in linen was firft invented there. To 
 the Flemings we are aifo indebted for the arts of 
 curing herrings, dyeing cloths and fluffs, and oil- 
 colours. But thole arts, and the manufactures, have 
 gradually flid away from lliem, and left but a (mall 
 fhare behind, when compared with their former 
 flourishing (late : they have fLown to a land of 
 
REVIEW OF AUSTRIAN FLANDERS. 59 
 
 liberfy and fecuriry. where hoftile feet never tread, 
 where (Lveiy corrupteCh not, wheie war aevoureth 
 not, nor Prielts nor DeipoiS bn ak in and ftei! # 
 Neverthelefs, h'k couon and woollen fluffs, bi"C- 
 aogrs, camblets, tapeftr.y, linen, and lace, aie ftill 
 man Lectured here to icme imall extent. 
 
 This province had counts of its own, from the 
 nin.h century up to the Year 1369, when it v. as 
 made over, by marriage, (1 ke a farm of cattle) ro 
 the dukes of Buigundy ; and afterwards, again, was 
 by them made over, in hke wav of marriage, to 
 the Houle of Auftria. In 1667 France icized the 
 fouchern part ; and the States General obtained the 
 northern, partly by the treaty of Munfler, and 
 partly by the Barrier treaty of 1715. 
 
 To reckon upon the natural endowments of this 
 country, one would fuppofe that it fhould be a ter- 
 reftrial paradile : yet luch is the wickedneis of man, 
 and the outrageous fpirit of power, that it is almoin 
 the la ft country in Europe in which I would have 
 property, and fix a permanent refidence. Juft 
 now, while I am writing, I have before me an ac- 
 count, that the French, to whom they have opened 
 their gates, have plundered them to the lafb atom* 
 of their moveable poff-ffions ; and that the pro- 
 perty of the unfortunate people is now in waggons, 
 on its way to Paris. 
 
 Once more, my boy, I fay, blefs your God, that 
 planted you in a country cheered by the voice of 
 freedom, defended by Britifk valour, and, what is 
 •f more coniecjuencej lurrounded by the Ocean. 
 
to DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 LETTER XI, 
 
 H 
 
 AV1NG conduced you through that 
 part of the Nethei lands called Auflrian Flanders. 
 we are npvv to dirrct. our attention to that called 
 Auftrian Brabin*", of which part, as well as of the 
 Netherlands in general, BruflVls, where I anivfd 
 the fame day I left Ghent, is the capital, giving its 
 name to a q ;aiter or teiritorv that iurrounds it. 
 
 In all parts of trfe Nethet lands through wh.ch I 
 travelled, I could not nelp admiring the uniform 
 decorations of the roads, rivers, and canals, with 
 rows o( lofty trees. wh:ch foim a mod agreeable 
 fhad from the iummei's bu.ning lur, and yet do 
 not obftrttft any great extent of proipeft, the coun- 
 trv •■> to ejttremely flit. And one thing I remark- 
 ec:, and \vr c . cettainly feem^ at fiift view, extra- 
 ordinary, is, that in the gteat extent of country 
 through which we have hitherto pa fled, from Of- 
 te-.d !o BrulT- Is, being fixty-eight miles, I fcaice 
 iaw one nobitman or gentleman's feat-— nothing 
 - above 'he houte of a fojfbandman, a curate, or fome 
 pi rlon of (mail fortune : and yet the country is 
 ex'remely rich ; and I law m2ny fpots, as I went 
 a <>r»g. charming beyond delcripiion, and fuch as 
 tfbuld nmp 1 , 1 fhould think, a man of tafte and 
 •o .' i ce to iettle in them. This muft appear un- 
 a a un aole «..> thofe who do not recolleft, that in 
 a country luhjrft l:ke this to the ravaging incurfi- 
 ons of contending armies, fortified towns are con- 
 ii.eied ks the moft pleating, becauie the moil fe- 
 cuie retreats of opulence. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 6 1 
 
 As I approached the city of Brufiels, I was 
 flruck with a mixed i'enfation of furprife and de- 
 light at the appearance it made — -none that I had 
 ever leen being comparable to it, and not one in 
 Europe, by the account of travellers, being in that 
 refpect fuperior to it, Naples and Genoa only ex- 
 cepted : like them, however, it, when entered, 
 falls far fhort of the expectation raifed by its ex- 
 ternal appearance, being all compoied of hills and 
 hollows, which noc only fatigue, but render the 
 appearance of the flreets, though well built, con- 
 temptible and mean. 
 
 Bruffels (lands on the beautiful little river Senne, 
 on the brow of a hill. The city is about feven 
 miles in circumference, has feven gates, with ex- 
 tenfive fuburbs, and is encompafled with a double 
 wall made of brick, and ditches ; but its fize is too 
 great for flrength, as a face of defence of luch ex- 
 tent could not poiiibly hold out a long uege — a 
 great and infuperable defect in luch a country as I 
 have de(cribed„ 
 
 Great as is the extent cf ground on which this 
 city Hands, it is neverthelefs very well built, and 
 extremely populous. It is ornamented with no 
 fewer than feven fquares, all of them remarkably 
 fine, particularly the great fquare or market place, 
 which is reckoned to be perhaps the fined in Eu- 
 rope. Around it are the halls of the different 
 trades, the fronts of which are adorned, in a lu- 
 perb manner, with emblematical fculpture, with 
 gilding, and a variety of Latin inscriptions. One 
 quarter of this (qua re is entirely occupied by the 
 town-houfes, a nobre pile of building, in which 
 there were apartments where the States of Brabant 
 met, finely adorned with tapeltry in gilt frames, 
 and ioms admirable original paintings. At th^ 
 time I was there, the whole city was in motion, 
 preparing for the Inauguration of the Emperor, 
 who was then impatiently expected, and whole ap- 
 
 F ■ 
 
62 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 proqch made fuch a buflle, and promifed fuch a 
 Ipeclacle, as made me regret the neceiTuy 1 lay 
 under of proceeding on my journey. The tov.n- 
 houfe was put into the higheft order, and fubfe- 
 quently fell a facrifice to the great and important 
 event for which it was prepared. 
 
 The fteeple of this building is of a mod flupen- 
 dous height — three hundred and fixty-four feet ; 
 and on the top of it is erefted a flatue of Saint 
 Michael killing the Dragon, of the enormous 
 height of feventeen feet : this coloffal flacue is fo 
 conftructed as to ferve for a weather-cock ; and be- 
 ing made of copper, well gilt, is at once confpi- 
 cuous, magnificent, and ornamental. 
 
 The public buildings of Bruflels. particularly the 
 palaces and courts of the leveral princes, counts, 
 and other perfons of diftin&ion, (and, you may be 
 fure, the churches and cloifters too), are fpacious, 
 expenfive, and magnificent. Behir.d the imperial 
 palace, which flood in the higheft; part of the city, 
 but was burnt down many years ago, is a park, well 
 flocked with deer, and planted with trees, like St. 
 Jalrocs's-park at London, for the inhabitants to walk 
 in. At the farther end of it is a fine pleafure- 
 hou'e, built by the Emperor Char lis the fifth, 
 after his abdication. 
 
 The palace is a magnificent flructure : the rooms 
 of it are fir.i fired in a flvle far fuperior to thofe of 
 any palace in England, and enriched with many 
 fine paintings: that of the family of Hector, in 
 the council chamber, lays claim to the fir it rank of 
 eminence. Of the other buildings (the grandeur 
 of which entitle them to the names of palaces), 
 thofe of the Prince de la Tour and Taxis, and the 
 Britifh Earl of Aylefbury, are diflinguihe eat 
 
 beauty and magnificence. Indeed, in all the pala- 
 ces, there are collections of original gs, 
 by the mofl eminent mailers, both Italian and 
 Flcmifti. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 63 
 
 The roval library of Biuflels claims particular at- 
 tention, for the magnitude and liberality of its 
 edablifhment, containing a grand collection of the 
 mod excellent books in all languages, and being 
 open all the year on Tuefdays, 'Thurfdivs, and 
 Saturdays, to public acceis. 
 
 The arfenal of Bruffels is extramely well worth 
 going to fee, on account of the very curious antique 
 arms it contains — of which it is, at this di usance of 
 time, impofiible for rne to give you any account 
 worth attention. The armour of the Emperor 
 Charles the Fifth, together with the furniture of 
 his hoife, and fute fword, are fhewn : I could fee 
 nothing either novel or interesting in them — a 
 flrong mark I prefume, of my want of tuPce ; but 
 I coafeis my organs are not fo refined as to feel 
 any extraordinary emotions at the fight of a heap 
 of inert matter, mearly becaufe it once enveloped 
 the carcale of a tyrant : neither were they fo very 
 co^rfe or dull as not to undergo very pointed fenfa- 
 tions at the fight of the armour of Montezuma, 
 the injured Emperor of Mexico, the viftim of ava- 
 rice and rapine, under their ufual mafk, religion. 
 Why Montezuma's armour fliould make a part of 
 the trophies of a Popifh flate, ?nd be triumphantly 
 exhibited, is hard to occount for in human folly : 
 why that fhould be exhibited which is a ftain of 
 the deeped-damned black, in their black code of 
 faith, is adonifhing, unlei's we allow the truth of 
 the old faying, 4i Quos Df. us vult perdere. prius 
 dementat ;" and that, after having violated every 
 principle of virtue, morality, and human feeling — ■ 
 after having furpallcd in cruelty all that we know 
 of- the word mondersof the eaith, cr of the deep, 
 the fell hyena, or the ravening fhark — after hav- 
 ing fuccefsfully emulated the word efforts of the 
 moft malignant lpirits that are laid to hold counfel 
 for the ruin of mankind in hell — they were defir- 
 ous to transmit the ipoils of their ravages to pof- 
 
64 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 teritv, to tell them what glorious things have been 
 atehieved in days of yore, for th« love of Christ 
 — to demon ft rate what benefits are to be derived 
 from a religion which has, for to many hundred 
 years, given iar.cYion to every enormity that ftnkes 
 the ioul of man with horror, and thereby to make 
 converts to their principles. Monflers ! fools I 
 Away with your idle cants, ye hypocrites, who 
 -would brand the cruelties of the pteient days, the 
 rmftacres of the Jacobins, with the crime of infi- 
 delity, and attribute thofe much lamented defec- 
 tions from humanity to a falling oft from the Ghrif- 
 tian faith. Look to Mexico! — fee a monfter, a 
 high pried; of your religion, coile&ing, by fair pro- 
 fit Ues and fwect purfuafion. a people round him; 
 and, when a plain was filled, commanding his blood- 
 hounds, armed with fword and crucifix, to fall 
 upon and murder them — becaufe one poor creature, 
 who knew not what a book meant, had acciden- 
 i lly dropped a bible from his hands ! — ice him not 
 i caring age or fex, but butchering all, for the love 
 of Christ! — When have the deluded and en- 
 f^enzied mob of France perpetrated, in the full 
 torrent of popular fienzy, luch atrocities as this 
 cruel nriefl committed in cold blood ? when have 
 they hunted down their fellow creature?, maffacred 
 children, and given their yet panting members to 
 their dogs for food, as pious Cii.i iftians, headed by 
 a pious prieft, have done in Mexico? Never ! ne> 
 ver ! — Learn wifclom. then, ye hypocrites ! and if 
 you cannot convince your enemies by realon, or 
 conquer them by force, and if their predatory and 
 wicked progrels is not to be (topped, do not fanc- 
 tify their eno: rallies, or palliate their crimes,, in the 
 eye of realon, by a companion with thole of a 
 deeper dye : remember, that " not to be the worft 
 ftands in iome rank of praife," and that the Jaco- 
 bin cruelties of Paris, horrible though they were, 
 were pity and lender mercy, compared with ; 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. C5 
 
 Chriftian butchery in Mexico, in Europe, in AGa* 
 in every place where Popery ever fct its bloody 
 hoof. 
 
 You are not, from what I fay. to infer that I 
 entertain any illiberal animofuy to Popery, as many 
 men, and more women, do, merely becaufc its ar- 
 ticles of faith diifer from thofe in which I was 
 bred : I truft my heart and underftanding are above 
 fuch very degrading prejudices : but I abhor every 
 thing that militates againft human happinefs — every 
 thing that crufnes the operation* of intellect — every 
 thing that (lops the current of opinion, and pre- 
 vents its courfe from enlarging and meliorating our 
 condition : I abhor the impertinent and hypocriti- 
 cal intrusion of all churchmen upon national or do- 
 me ilic concerns ; the more, when that intrufion is 
 milchievous ; and more ft ill, when it a {fumes the 
 ma(k of piety — for that is at once a fraud upon mati 
 and an abufe of God. All thole caui'es of abhor- 
 rence attach, more or lefSj to all fefts of the Chrif- 
 tian religion, the Quakers only excepted — but to 
 Popery rather more than to any of the others ; for 
 it is obferved, that while the very fiifr. principles 
 of Chiiftianity, as originally laid down in theory, 
 are peace and good-will towards men, warfare, per- 
 fection, and bloodihed, have practically marked its 
 fooifleps wherever it has trod, and its very erf? nee 
 been perverted by its own mini iters, who, entrusted 
 with the key of the temple, Pteal the vellmentj 
 from the alter, to cover the deformed, crookui back 
 of vicr. But the rays of downing reafon now 
 break with fuller light upon minkind ; and it haf* 
 tens 10 meridian reiplender.ee, before which thofe 
 phantoms railed by pious jugglers will vanifh, and, 
 li like the bafelefs fabric of a vifion, leave not a 
 wreck behind. 5 ' 
 
 F 2 
 
66 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 I 
 
 II the arfenal of BrufTels was another eu- 
 r:ofity. which I overlooked in my lafl — a model of 
 a cannon, conftructed io as to throw feven balls a: 
 oner. It is fome confobtion to philanthropy to re- 
 fle£i, that of ail the abominable engines and inflru- 
 ments which the inventive faculties of man have 
 difcovered to incrcafe the cruelty and carnage of 
 xvar, not one has been of late times adopted. This 
 model lies here, therefore, only as a memorial erf 
 the diabolical genius of the inventor. 
 
 The opera- houle of Brussels, accounted the no- 
 bled and largefl in Europe, is built after the Italian 
 manner, with rows of lodges or clofets, in mod of 
 which are chimneys. One of thole, which belong- 
 ed to a prince, whofc title I now forget, was hung 
 wi.-h looking-glafTes, in which, while he fat by the 
 lire, took refrefnments, or reclined on his couch, 
 he could fee the whole reprelentation, without be- 
 ingexDofed to the view of either the cttors or the 
 audience. 
 
 The markets cf Biuuels are very remaikable. 
 The dukes of St. Pierre paid no lets than forty 
 thoufaud Act ins, or upwards of three thouland 
 bounds S'.eiling, for four piftuvesof them, painted 
 by Rubeks and SvKi>k* — Lewis the Fouiteenth 
 of France offered an mm.enie lura of money for 
 them ; but they font d their way at l*ft into the 
 cc I .1. on of the Britifh Earl of Orford. The va- 
 lue of them is laid, by connoilfeurs, to be beyond 
 computation. 
 
 BruflHs is extremely well fupplied with water : 
 for, befides the riverj it has twenty public foun- 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. Cj 
 
 tains, adorned with ftatues, at the corners of the 
 moil public ftreets ; and the lower part of the city 
 is cut into canals, which communicate with the 
 great one, extending from Bruffels to the Scheldt, 
 fifteen miles : by means of this canal, winch was 
 finifhed in ^561, and cod the city eight hundred 
 ihoufand florins, a perfon may fail from Bruffels to 
 the North Sea ; and barques do actually go twice a- 
 day to Antwerp, and back again. 
 
 This city is full of chuiches, of which the men: 
 remarkable is that of Saint Michael and Saint 
 Gudula, commonly called the cathedral. It is a 
 iuperb, old Gothic (tincture, and, fiotn its celebia- 
 ted fituation, a mod beautiful ornament to the city. 
 It is not only grand in its external appearance, but 
 finely adorned within. The pillars which fupport 
 the roof are lofty and elegant : and againfl each is 
 a flatue of ten feet in height. There are no lei's 
 than fixteen chapels in it ; and each chapel is en- 
 riched with abundance of Iplcndid ornaments, altar 
 finery, candle-Micks, crucifixes, &c. and with iomc 
 excellent pictures too : a picture of Jesus Christ 
 prefenting the keys of Paradife to Saint Peter, 
 which is reckoned among the chef-d'eeuvres of 
 Rubens, hangs in one of thole chapels. There 
 are iome monuments, alio, of very great merit, in 
 the choir of this church. But that which I think 
 by far the greateft and mod admirable curiofity (I 
 mean of human workmanfhip) in the church, is a 
 pulpit — one of the richeil and mod exquifi eiy 
 wrought pieces I have ever (cen : ai the bottom are 
 feen Adam and Eve as large as life, reprefented 
 as at the moment when the angel drove them out of 
 Paradise : in both of their faces are deeply and ex- 
 prefFively marked the traits ef a mind ago'niied with 
 anguiih and remorle : behind Eve is a figure of 
 
 uh, which follows them ; and on the top of 
 the pulpit are feen the figures "of -Jesus Christ 
 and the Virgin Mary crulaing the head of the 
 
68 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS, 
 
 Serpent. The flrong cxprefhons in the faces oi 
 all thoie figures, and the exquifite turn of the 
 workmanfhip, is the more remarkable, as it is all 
 cut out of oak wood. 
 
 Of fupernatural curlofuies, one of the chapels 
 in this cathedral contains fome, that, for miracle, 
 yield to none in the long catalogue of monkilh de- 
 vices. Three hofts or wafers are daily worfhipped 
 by the people ;• which hofts or wafers, the piiefts 
 firmly aiTert, and the people as firmly believe, vvere, 
 lb long ago as the year 1369, ftabbed by a Jew, 
 and bled profufely. They are expoled on every 
 feftival, in a chalice richly fct with diamonds ; and 
 on the firft Sunday after every thirteenth of July, 
 there is a yearly proceflion in memory of this (tab- 
 bing and bleeding, when the hofts are carried in 
 great flate round the city, embellifhcd with all man- 
 ner of precious (lone?, and attended by all the 
 clergy, fecular and regular, the nwgiftrates, the 
 courts of juflice, and even by the governor of the 
 province : the chapel where they are kept is of 
 marble, and the altar of folid ft Iyer. 
 
 Great God ! what an opprobium to the human 
 underfUnding, that, at the time when the mind of 
 man is {efficiently enlightened to avoid the weak- 
 ness of fhameful credulity, a whole people fhould 
 ftoop to fuch extravagant impofuion 1 what a fhame 
 to juflice and honejty, that thofe who are trufted 
 to guard the rights of a people, and who certainly 
 are too well informed to yield their belief to luch ^ 
 trafh, fhould yet join in, and give the weight of 
 their authority to lo grofs, lo wicked a deception ora 
 a community ! The magi ft rates, the courts or juflice, 
 and the governor — they walk, 100, in company with 
 the bald-pated impoftors — Good God I can mere 
 be laid ? volumes of comment could not elucidate 
 or render it more conlpicuoufly abfuid than the 
 bare recital of the fc£t itfelf, 
 
i 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 6g 
 
 It is impoflible for me to recount to you the num- 
 ber of nunneries, of various orders, in which un- 
 fortunate women were cloiftered up, fome from 
 bigotry, and others by force, in this city. There 
 were, however, two of them Englifh — one of Do- 
 minican ladies, founded by Cardinal Howard, in 
 the reign of Charles the Second, of which a lady 
 cf the noble Houfe of Norfolk was always abbefs : 
 the other is of Benedictine nuns ; the Beguinage 
 of the latter is like a little town, furrounded with a 
 wall and ditch, and divided into pretty little ftreels, 
 where every Beguine has her apartment ; the num- 
 ber of them amounts in general to leven or eight 
 hundred, ibmetimes more. 
 
 If population be the true ftrength of a nation, 
 this part, of Popery is very impolitic. The iuc 
 ceflion of women in this one convent fince the 
 reign of Charles the Second, mull amount to 
 many thoulandi. Hau thole been married, and, on 
 an average, had only two children each, with the 
 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, 
 down to the prefent day, in all the ramifications of 
 defcent. there is no doubt but their number would 
 equal that of the whole people of fome extenfive 
 provinces. What, then, mult be the lofs to the po- 
 pulation of the earth, arifing from the celibacy of fa 
 many millions of males and females as have been 
 configned to fterility in the catholic countries, ever 
 nee that extraordinary doclrine came fir it into 
 afhion ? It is out of the reach of calculation : not 
 but, now and then, they may have childier.--ir.deed 
 they certainly have but thofe are generally dilpoied 
 of in a way not to bring fhame on the frail Sifter- 
 hood, or their ConfeiTors. 
 
 In wading through fuch a torrent of ofFenfive 
 ideas as the innumerable abfurdities and deceptions 
 of Popifh countries continually raife in the mind, 
 it is a pleafing circum fiance to be relieved by the 
 contemplation of fome really ufeful. humane infiU 
 
70 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 tution ; and fuch a one prefents itfelf now to my 
 recollection : At Bruffels, and, I am told, at all 
 great towns of the Netherlands, there is a public 
 office for lending money at a very moderate intereft 
 upon pledges : it is called the Mount of Piety ', 
 and was eftablifhed nearly 108 years ago by the 
 Archduke, Albert, and Isabella, his wife. 
 By this institution, the poor aie laved from the 
 fleecings and frauds of pawn-brokers : and to ren- 
 der it dill more perfect, in accommodation, there 
 arc private parages for entrance ; fo that thole who 
 would wifh to conceal their ncceflities, are exempt- 
 ed from the mortification of being feeti publicly 
 going in, or coming out. 
 
 You have read. I prefume, that in the days of 
 Heatheniim, the Deities of that curious Mythology 
 were fuppofed to rejoice in the number Three. 
 The Popifh Code has fix^d upon Seven as the 
 lucky number. Thus they have (sven facraments,. 
 feven deadly fins, See. &c. Brufleis has improved 
 upon that ; and, taking the hint from their blcff.-d 
 liturgy, has feven grand ftreets ; feven parifh- 
 ehurches ; feven Patrician families, out of which 
 the Magi (Ira tea are or were elected ; leven large 
 fquares ; feven midwives, licenfed and Iworn by 
 the Senate ; and feven gates, leading to feven pla- 
 ces of recreations and exercise, one to a place pro- 
 per for fowling, a fecond to a place for fifhing, a 
 third to one far hunting, a fourth to pleafant fieids^^k 
 a fifth to paftime grounds, a fix l h to ip'ings und&i 
 vineyards, and a leventh to gardens. Bolides a'l 
 which (evens, they boait of having once had the 
 great good fortune of entertaining, at one tur^e, 
 leven crowned heads, with leven thoufand boric 
 belonging to their retinue. If there wese any fpell 
 in the number Seven, the people of Bru'feis luie- 
 ly mud have been lecure horn all mitchief ; bat the 
 Hans-culottes have broken the chaiin, diiperied tiie 
 
INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. 71 
 
 necromancers, and lowered poor number Seven to 
 its mere arithmetical value. 
 
 The inns, or eating houfes, in this city, were 
 equal to any in the world : a (Iranger might dine 
 there better and cheaper than in any place perhaps, 
 on earth. The wines, alio, were excellent and 
 chezp ; and coach-hire beyond expectation reafona- 
 ble — And here I recollect to rematk to you, that, 
 all the way from Oftend to Bruflels, one is obliged 
 to fir, dine, &c. in bed-chambers ; a circumftance 
 which is extremely difcordant to the feelings of thofe 
 ■who have been ufed to Britifh inns, although the 
 bed-chambers are, to fay the truth, large and com- 
 modious. At the very walls of Bruflels begins the 
 famous wood of Sogne, from which the inhabitants 
 were allowed to cut wood for fuel : as fad as the 
 trees were cut down, frefh ones were planted in 
 their ftead ; by which means the wood was pre- 
 ierved, and it afTerded a continual fupply to the 
 poor. 
 
 Bruflels is fo very remaikable a place, that I have 
 taken more than my uiual .cope of delcription of it. 
 Jufl as I had finifhcd it, I read a paragraph in the 
 public papers, dating that it is likely to be annexed 
 to the territories of the French Republic. 
 
 LETTER XIII, 
 
 on 
 
 JLXiTHERTO, as I have proceeded « 
 my travels, I have been purpofely very paiticular 
 in my descriptions of the towns through winch I 
 pa fled on my way -o India, in order to give your 
 tnind a dnpofition to inquiry, and point out to you 
 an evei fkrwii g fource of improvement and delight. 
 Having io iai (hewn you how amply you will be 
 
72 INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 rewarded, even in amufement, by the trouble of 
 fearching into books, for the accurate topographical 
 cefcriptions of towns, cities, buildings, &c. &c. 
 I think I may fpare myfelf that labour for the fu- 
 ture, and confine myfelf to thofe points that mere 
 immediately apply to the enlargement of the mind 
 — -I mean, the government, laws, manners, and 
 character of the people of each fcoonfry ; and 01 
 ufe the former as fubicrvient to the latter purpote, 
 at leaf! until I come to ihofe places where, the 
 ground being but little trodden by Britifh feet, 
 more precife defcription may become neceflory. 
 
 But, before I leave the Netherlands, I muft 
 make a few remaiks upon the country and people, 
 which it would be unpardonable in me to omit^fter 
 having been already lo minutely particular in tilings 
 of inferior merit to the lcope of my plan. 
 
 Although pcrfonal appeal ance be, in the eye of 
 Moral Philofophy, a veiy Inferior confederation, 
 and mind the proper ftudy of man ; yet in describ- 
 ing a prople, I cannot think it altogether unnecef- 
 fary to include their perioral appearance, as it will 
 be found that there exifts a greater analogy between 
 tite reiion and the mind of men than is generally 
 perceived. Thus the lively hilarity, the reflleis 
 activity, the levity and fantaftic char?£ler of the 
 French, are flrongly pourtrayed in the national 
 perlon. In like n anner, the lufty, fat, clumly 
 and misfhapen perion of the people of the Nethe] 
 lands, is fliongly llluftrative of the temper and ha^ 
 bit of their mind, intellefts and fpirits: induilri- 
 ous and heavy ; dull of underilancing, but not de- 
 \< cYsve in judgment ; (low in woik— but, perlever- 
 ing in effort, and unerring in the procefs, they are 
 generally iucceisful in the end : in war, cold and 
 backward at offenfive operat.ons, but inflexible and 
 terrible in refiftance ; like the bear of the foiefr, 
 they leek not the combat with any, but will not 
 go* o\K cf their way to decline it with the mod 
 
INAUGURATION OF THE EMPERO?. 73 
 
 powerful : their appetites and delires cooler than 
 other naiions, but lefs fubjecl: to change or caprice : 
 never violently in love, but utionally attached to 
 their wives ; and both men and women faithful to 
 their conjugal vow, as well from natural tempera- 
 ment, as from a principle of virtue. 
 
 Thus conftituted by nature, the effects of their 
 indultry are wonderful in every thing, but chiefly 
 in their canals and flu ices, which ferve not only 
 for the fupport of their com Tierce, and the Facility 
 of intercourle, but for their defence again ft ene- 
 mies; this was in other times ; but, alas! the for- 
 mer of thefe ufes, commerce, has fo entirely ab- 
 foibed all their in lei left, and porTeflfecl their very 
 Joul?, that they feem almod entirely negligent of 
 the latter ; and from being, of all people, the mod 
 wife and vigilant in deiermining and ascertaining 
 their lights, the mod zealous alien eis and defenders 
 of their independence, the moil ardent friends to 
 liberty, and the mod determined enemies co iLvc:y, 
 thev are become a lortof flrange, in con ft dent. hofch> 
 potch politicians, whem ingenuity itfelf would fir.d 
 a ciifliculty in describing. They retain fo much of 
 their ancient and noble vigilance as ferves to make 
 them fufpicious — fo much of their independence as 
 dilpofes them to change — fo much of their jealoufy 
 as Simulates them to re ft da nee — out not one parti- 
 cle of their former wifdom, to inftruft them where 
 U;ey fhould attach themfelves, where reft ft, or where 
 refolvc to set — nor of their courage to carry any rc- 
 folution they might form into efTtct. 
 
 In the year 1 78 r , the Emperor jo s :•:? :i the Se- 
 cond came to B ruffe Is, in ouier to n&tiig6 his pa- 
 ternal feeiings as a monarch with the contemplation 
 and view of his fubjetls, and alfo to be in jd ; 
 
 and perhaps upon no cccDllon that has ever occur- 
 1 the mod volatile naiipn, was tneie zieater 
 
 ■ pore univerla'Iy exprefled. For fomc time be- 
 fore his arrival, the whole country was in motion, 
 
 G 
 
74 INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 and, even with them, domeftic indufbry flopped 
 its tifual perfevering pace, lufpcnded in the eager, 
 anxious expeftaiion of his a: rival. Every thing in 
 the birth, education, natural diipofnion and perfon 
 of the young Emperor, united to imprefs his fub- 
 je6ls with the moft exalted opinion of his good n el's, 
 and to inipire all ranks of people with the moft 
 fortunate prefages of a wiie and beneficent govern- 
 ment. Nor did he diiappoint them : his conduft, 
 when among them, is handed over to remembrance, 
 by a variety of aft* of benevolence and condefcen- 
 fion, which fhowed that the grandeur of the mo- 
 narch had not made him forget the nature of the 
 man, and that his heart was better fitted for the 
 mild, domeitic enjoyments of a fubjeft, than the 
 Hern and unbending kaidihood fit for a King : for 
 I am perfe£l'y of opinion with the celebrated Ju- 
 ki us, that there are virtues in a private man which 
 are vices in a King ; and that the monarch of a 
 country, in order to preferve refpeft, lliould avoid 
 familiarity, and keep his perfon iacred from too 
 general observation. Shakspeare has put into the 
 mouth of his Henry the Fouith, a beautiful ex- 
 preflion on this lubjeft, well worth the attention of 
 Kings — 
 
 " Had I fo lavifh of my prefence been, 
 
 So common hackney 'd in the eyes of men, 
 
 Opinion, that did help me to the Crown, 
 
 Had fiill kept loyal to poflemon, 
 
 And left me in reputelefs banifhment« 
 
 A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood. 
 
 By being feldom leen. I could not ftir, 
 
 But, like a comet, I was wonder'd a; : 
 
 That men would tell their children, This he he.'' 
 
 Of the number I have heard, I wall mention one 
 anecdote only, and one remarkably expreflu 
 Joseph's, which will ferve to fh^w in its 
 light what his difpofition was ; and when you 
 fider them as the aft and fentiment of a young 
 
INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. J $ 
 
 nurfed in the lap of deTpotlfm and pride, you can- 
 not but confider them as Marvellous. 
 
 In his journey to the low countries, he vifited 
 Wurtzaurg ; and, in his perambulating alone and 
 incog, {lopped at a little public-houle. where the 
 people were bufily employed in entertaining them- 
 ielves : he went in, and inquired why they were i'o 
 merry — " Sir," {aid one of the country people, 
 (i we are celebrating a marriage." *' May I be 
 permitted to join the company ?" faid the dilguifed 
 Emperor. The hod obtained that permiilion for 
 him. When he entered the room, the married 
 couple were prefented to him, and he received 
 them with great gaiety, fat down, drank their 
 health, and, having informed himfelf of their fi- 
 tuation, took leave of the company : but what was 
 their aftonifhment, when, on lifting up a bottle of 
 wine, they found a draft for fix hundred florins, 
 figned Joseph, and payable for the ufe of the 
 married couple. 
 
 At Luxembourg, when the people called aloud 
 on Heaven tofhower down blefhngs on him for his 
 affability, he made ule of this remarkable exprefft- 
 on, while his feelings moiftened his eyes i " I 
 '.villi I could make you as happy in my care, as I 
 am in your affection !" 
 
 The affability of monarchs has often been magni- 
 fied by the foolifti, and often blamed by the wife : 
 But, if all the inflances of eondefcenfion pracliifed 
 by kings were like that I have recited of Joseph ; 
 if they aroie from a found, unqueftionable fpirit of 
 philanthropy, not from gaping curiofity, broad fol- 
 ly, orapeurile inquifitive habit; and if, inllead 
 of conceiving thoie they vifu paid for their intiu- 
 lion with the honour of having converfed with ma- 
 jelly, and leaving them churhihly, they would ge- 
 ne: oufiv pay them with hard cafh, as the good Em- 
 peror Joseph did ; then, indeed, their affability 
 
;£> INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 might defy the exaggeration of fool?, and muff cer- 
 tainly command the applauie of the wile. 
 
 On the 13th of July, the ceremony of inaugura- 
 tion took place at Bruffrls. Nothing could equal 
 the fplendour of the place but the general joy of 
 the people : the crowds were beyond all conception 
 imrocnfe, and every thing was cauied on with re- 
 gularity till evening, whes, in playing off fome 
 hre-woikr, that noble building the town-houie 
 lock fite. and was burnt : iix unfoi lunate perfons 
 }o(t their lives, and twenty were dangerouQy hurt- 
 ed : thofe who peiifhed were abfolutcly loaded, 
 rnd their cries were beyond defesiption piejeing. 
 To (uch a temper as JosiPirs. you will readily 
 conclude that this mult be a rr.oft afflicVng circum- 
 ftance — it was fo ; and he left Brufleli under the. 
 pteffare of ve;y different feelings from thole with 
 which he entered it, and was followed by the pray- 
 ers ar.d biefTings of all the people. 
 
 But now we are to view the reverfe of the me- 
 li.e found of their prayers for his welfare, 
 ?r.d piaiies of his goodneis. had hardly died away 
 upon their lips, ere their minds turned to revolt 
 and rebellion. I will not lay that they were nut 
 light in one or other, or which of thole two ex- 
 tremes : certainly they could not be right in both j 
 much leis can their iuhfequent conduct be ju (lifted,, 
 or accounted for, in any principle of human nature,, 
 but that of the moil abject meannefs, daftardly fee- 
 blenefs, and grois folly. They returned to their 
 allegiance, and befought forgiveneis : that forgive- 
 nels was g; anted. How they have behaved lince, 
 I have already informed you, (lee Letter IV.) ; 
 ar.d J have now to add, that, pillaged by the French, 
 and likely to be left unprotected, they have again 
 held their necks out, foliating the protection and 
 the yoke of Auflria, and have actually offered to 
 raiie icOjOCO men for the Emperor, if he will ag 
 
INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. J J 
 
 drive the French out of their territories— An ex- 
 cellent word that if ! 
 
 How a people, once formed for manly pith and 
 love of freedom, could bend lo low, is unaccount- 
 able. It is a queftion hard to be determined, whe- 
 ther an obftinate adherence even to a bad caufe, is 
 not more refpe£hble, than a fickle, alternate dere- 
 liction, and adoption of right and wrong, as it funs 
 the caprice or convenience of ihe moment ? Of 
 two things fo very contemptible, I think the for- 
 mer the lead odious and leaft unmanly. 
 
 At the fame time, my obfervations on the coun- 
 try led me to conceive, that under the name of 
 freedom, they groaned urider the yoke of tyranny ; 
 for, though the country was, as I have described it, 
 charming, its fecundity unfurpaffed, its face deco- 
 ded with the bed: gifts of Providence — I mean, 
 itniling fields and bleating plains- 4 — though Cera 
 profufely repaid the iabours of the hufbandman, 
 though every field had the appearance of a garden, 
 and though, upon inquiry, I found that land which 
 would bring in England five pounds an acre, rented 
 at eight, nine, and ten (hillings of our money at 
 mod — yet, in fpite of all this, the farmers were 
 rather poor in general — not even one of them to be 
 found rich and lubftantial, like the middle rank of 
 that cUfs of men in England. They wanted the 
 great ftimulus to industry — fecurity of their pro- 
 perty : they were liable to be turned out by their 
 landlords at pleasure, and be plundered when it 
 Ino'uld pleale lome monarch to make war. 
 
 The fir ft of thefe, however, you will obfervc, is 
 not the opprefiion of the Emperor: it is a tyranny 
 of that worft of all conftituent parts of a (late, an 
 ar:ftocracy — a vile arillocracy ! — that univerfal, that 
 ev -ry-day deipo iim, under which all places groan, 
 more or lels — which is exerciied in all the various 
 giadations of life that chequer icc.tty, from the 
 great nun who, under the name of miniiler, dorni- 
 
 G 2 
 
7S INAUGURATION OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 neers over the peer, to the country fox-hunting fa- 
 
 vage, who puts a poor wretch in jail to pine for 
 yea is, (his family, the while, fupporred bv the pi- 
 rifh charity), only for doing that which makes the 
 enjoyment of his own life, killing a partridge or a 
 hare ! — that ariilocratic tyranny which is lecn 
 fcowling on the brows of a fwaggering fellow in 
 power, adopted by his fecretary with increafe, by 
 him handed down to an upRart let of fellows in 
 office, dependent on his fmile, and by them dis- 
 played in all the niufeous, defpicable forms which 
 awksvaidnefsand ignorance lifted above their Rati- 
 ons, never fail to alfume — the cold referve, the af- 
 fected Rare, the liRlefs nod, the feigned deafnefs t 
 blindnefs, absence, and other fafhionable peifeft:- 
 ons, which ferve as vents for upRart arrogance, and 
 indemnify the fycophant for the vile homage and 
 jubmiffion which he has before paid feme wretch r 
 mean and arrogant as himlelf ! — I tell you, my dear 
 Frederick, it is this ariftocia'.ic uiurpa'ion of 
 power, where power exiRs not, nor is neccfl"<ry — 
 this infuliing affumption of luperiority, this hidden 
 petty opprefiion which rears its head in every 
 manor, nay,~-almoR every town and vili^ge in the 
 kingdom, that put the nations out of tune, mars the 
 harmony of focial arrangement, and renders power 
 in the aggregate obnoxious. Why, our veiy wo- 
 men have their faucy, ariRocratic, iuperciheus 
 front, their haughty Rare, their contemptuous tit- 
 ter ; and barter the winning loftne'.sof the iex, the 
 dimples where the loves fhouW dwell, for the 
 haughty lots of the hend, the ill-natured Cheer, and 
 the infulting H color's frown — And thus the fpirit 
 cf ariRocracy, like a poiionous weed, grows and 
 expands from one to the other with baleful luxuri- 
 ance, gradually overlpic-iding the whole face ol hu- 
 manity, Roppi»';gthe wholelome current of the (oct- 
 al atrnofphere. and choakmg up the leis tank but 
 
CONSTITUTION, &c. 79 
 
 more ufeful plants — Thus it goes rounfi in fhameful 
 traffic ; and, as the post (ays, 
 
 ' : The wh — re fhe kicks her cully, 
 Court-waiters ire kick'd at call ; 
 Ws are all kick'd, yet bully- 
 While infreft kicks the ball." 
 
 I am peifuaded, that if the grievances of the 
 moft deipotic dates were fairily eftimated, and al- 
 figned to their real authors, the princes of iuch dates 
 would be found reiponlible for a very (mall fhare 
 indeed, when compared with the ariflocracy : and 
 by ariflocracy, I mean not merely lords, but all men 
 who convert the wealth which Piovidcnce has be- 
 flovved upon them to the purpoles of tyranny, exac- 
 tions, impofition and oppreffion — under which four 
 heads we will again find, not only impiifonmcnt for 
 hegging alms, impnionment for (hooting a par- 
 tridge, but often ledu£lion, adultery, and perfecu- 
 tion for refilling or relorting to law for punifhment 
 of that leduftion or adulteiy. Of all thole things, 
 the proofs, I fear, in all nations, are abundant : I 
 am (ure they are fo in the heft governed flate in 
 Europe — I mean* England — ■ 
 
 " Qui capit, ille facit." 
 
 I have thrown up a fool's cap : how many are 
 there who will privately put it on ! 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 -- - ■ ■•■'.■ .. .. -. .jt . 
 
 A: 
 
 .S the time of my departure from Bruf- 
 fels pproached, I fo ind the bitter lenlations with 
 which I left London, in lome measure, returning* 
 
8o CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 My fortunate! encounter with General Locxhart 
 had affoided me a tempotaiy lelpite ; but now I 
 was once more to face an unknown country alone, 
 without the chance of again meeting a friend to io- 
 lace my mind, or mitigate my woe, on this fide of 
 India. 
 
 Having feen as much of B'ufTels as my time and 
 occafions would at all allow, and, in tru T h, having 
 rather trefbaffed on my plan, for the realons juft 
 mentioned, 1 determined to pufh forward as faft as 
 it was poffible, and took poll for Liege, where I 
 artived, after palling through a beautiful, fertile, 
 well-cultivated country, to the charms of which 
 the renewed agony of my feelings redered me al- 
 mofl infenfible. 
 
 As we have now almoft the whole length of 
 Germany before us to travel through, it will be 
 proper, before I pioceed further, to give you a ge- 
 neral idea of the conflicution of this vc'ft empire — 
 over all which, while one great monarch nominally 
 prefidcs, there are fpread a number of petty poten- 
 tates, who really rule after as diftit:£i forms of go- 
 vernment as almoft any two governments, however 
 remote in Europe. 
 
 Confiderincr the nature of government abftra&ed- 
 lv, one would fuppofe that it aroie from the general 
 will of the focety governed, and was foimed for 
 their uie and benefit alone: but if we view the dif- 
 ferent iyftems fcattered over the civilized part of 
 the earth, we fhall find that they originated from 
 force and fraud ; and that, in their fiilt formation, 
 when bodily proweis, not intellectual power, bore 
 iway — when he that could carry the iliongeft ar- 
 mour, and ftiike the heavieff. blows, was lure to 
 govern — when mere animal flrength and ferocity 
 tiiiinherned reaion of her rights, and lobbed 
 her of that alcendeucy to which the invention of 
 gunpowder, aided bv the art of printing, has fi 
 in iorne iort rcftored her — the bahs upon which 
 
GERMAN EMPIRE. Si 
 
 governments were raifed was, one man, not the 
 whole fociety ; the point then was. how this or that 
 flrong ruffian could collect muff Haves about him, 
 not how this or that fociety fhould choofe the beO; 
 head : if he has flrength to carry havoc through the 
 ranks of their enemies, and then to overawe them- 
 felves. he was fure of dominion over the 1 people, 
 and left it to his fon ; but if it fo happened that he 
 did not alio bequeath to him bodily prowefs to pre- 
 ferve it, the next ftrong ruffian feized the reins,. 
 fling him from his feat and kept it till he, or fome one 
 of his heirs, was again ferved fo in his turn by fome 
 ©:her ufurper. Hence arofe the cabals and intrigues 
 of courts, the fpirit of party, and interline commo- 
 tion ; till at length the people, for their own iecu- 
 rity, and to avoid the horrors of civil war, made 
 choice (from difmal neceffity) of fome one family 
 to rule them. As fociety advanced, and opulence 
 held forth temptation, fome greater ruffian, follow- 
 ed by a horde of needy, famifhed barbarians, made 
 incurfions on thofe rulers ; and being i.trefiilible, as 
 well from numbers firmly connected, as from the 
 powerful impulfe of neceffity, under whole banners 
 they generally robbed and ravaged, was fubmitted 
 to en terms, and became Lord Paramount of a num- 
 ber of petty fovereigns. who did homage to him, 
 and fleeced the milerable fubjecls, to keep him in 
 humour ; and thus, in a leries-of time, the power of 
 both took root, and remained immoveable, unlefs. 
 when torn up by fome violent leutpeft that convuf- 
 ed the ftate, and fnook it to its foundations. 
 
 Reading this account, you will very naturally ex- 
 claim, '■ Good God ! how abfuid ! how irrational 1" 
 Yet fo it is ; and from this fource, muddy though it 
 be, is modern honour, and modern greatnefs, and 
 modern high blood, derived : from this foul and 
 turbid fountain have mod of the governments of the 
 world iflued ; from thofe ftrong men of yore have 
 rood of our modern governors descended : and as it 
 
82 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 generally happens (fo equally has Providence crif- 
 tiibuted the gifts of nature) that the ftrength of the 
 intellectual pait is in 'he mverle ratio of the ani- 
 mal, perhaps that is the reaion why monarchs are 
 formed, in general, of greater bodily vigour than 
 mental endowments, and better fitted for the field 
 than the cabinet — and for this reafon are obliged to 
 take from the puilne ranks of their fubjects Tome 
 aiTiflant, fo far removed from the great ftandard of 
 antique dignity, as to pofleis understanding enough 
 to govern. 
 
 Upon a retrofprctive view of the Riftory of Eu- 
 rope, it will be found, that for a long time af'.er 
 the birth of Christ, Germany was divided amor.g 
 fuch petty rulers as 1 have defcriled, who each 
 held his little Rate in fovereignty, and was called 
 Princeps in Latin, or, in plain Englifh, Prince. 
 After the downfal of the We (tern Empire, a nation 
 called Franks, from that part called Fr&nronia, 
 over-ran a great part of Gaul and Germany, and in 
 the fifth century took pofieiiion of that part of 
 Gaul which lay north of the river Loire. In the 
 year 8oo, Charlemagne, the fon of Pepin, 
 their king, formed an i'mfoenfe empire in the weft, 
 comprehending a great part of Germany, Fiance, 
 Italy, and a part of Spain. About eighty years af- 
 terwards, the petty princes of Germany (hook off 
 the French Carlovinian race, and elected an em- 
 peror of their own from the Houfe of Bavatia. 
 
 At laft Henry the Fourth, having difpleafed that 
 grand arbiter the Pope, was put under the ban, and 
 in confequence depoied by the Mates ; on which 
 cccafion his Holinels had the acdieis to make i. 
 great dignity elective, he having uncontroled pow- 
 t ! uver the electors ; fince which ii has continued 
 fo, with fome modifications, and under certain re- 
 gulations, formed by Charles the P'ourth. at the 
 I of Nurembeig. The election, however, has 
 been always fo managed, that it has never depaited 
 
GERMAN EMPIRE. 8* 
 
 from the regular line of fucceiTion but when there 
 was an actual want of heirs. 
 
 In a country over which the Pope had fuch in- 
 fluence, it might reasonably be lap poled that into- 
 lerance is carried to a great length ; but it is not fo, 
 as a review of each particular (late (hews. The 
 eftalimeo rei gi< n, in general, is Popery. Joseph; 
 the Second, that good and wife raonarh, di (played 
 a greater ipirit of toleiation than any other Catholic 
 prince fince Henry the Fourth of France. He 
 was not murdered by a friar for ir, it is true — thofe 
 days of • pious barbarity are pad ; but he was vifi- 
 ted on the occ Hon by his Holinefs, who, after a 
 variety of remonilrances againft the relaxation he 
 give to religious feverity in his own dominions, 
 finding him unmoved by papers, refolved to attack 
 him in perfon ; but, whether it was that the pon- 
 tifical amulet loft its charm when out of the air 
 of Rome, or that his Holinefs was not properly 
 anointed before (like Hecate in Macbeth) he took 
 his flight, ot that he forgot fome of thole reliques 
 which were expected to operate on Joseph's mmd, 
 lo it was, that the good emperor continued Inflexi- 
 bly attached to his former refo'.ve ; and, after k:fT- 
 in^ his Holinefs' toe, and a thouland other pre v 
 politenefl.es, fent him back to Rome again with 
 finger in his mouth ; and a (lory to relate, that 
 would, at one time, have fet all Europe in a fLme, 
 and fent the good monarch, like Henry the Se- 
 cond cf England, to lafh himielf naked over the 
 rotten remains of fome vagabond f. aucjuj^ent juried. 
 
 In the ele&icm of emperor, the laws of the em- 
 pire have laid down no opacification but that w] 
 ought to be Cazjhie qua aori of all p iely 3 
 
 that he b? jnfius. bonus , ct i.tiU.i — Neither ha^ye they 
 made any limitation in regani to , nation, 
 
 ftate, or age ; neveriheleU, the jnajp ity pi el. Ct >rs 
 being Pap; (Is, a Roman Catholic prince isai-.vays 
 cholen. 
 
84 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 The rank of the emperor is very great : he is 
 looked upon by all crowned heads as the f>\ ft Euro- 
 pean potentate ; a .., as fuch, precedence is always 
 given him and his ambafhuiors : he :s the fupreme 
 head of the German empire; but his powd in the 
 admin iteration thereof is very limited indeed. In 
 ancient fir es, the emperor had considerable do- 
 mains rind incomes; but warfare and prodigality 
 have diffipated the greater! part of them, and they 
 have been luccefiively alienated or mortgaged, io 
 that his revenues were very incoiifideiable lately, 
 arid now, fince the French war, are almofl as 
 nothing. 
 
 The prefent emperor Franc is found the empire, 
 vhen he was elected, incumbent with difficulties or 
 the mod enormous magnitude — 3 war on which 'he 
 exi Hence of every monaichv in Europe fcemed to 
 depend, an exhaufted treafury, and a difpofition to 
 revolt in a part of his dominions, the Netherlands. 
 A r this prcient time, his (ituation is, beyond that of 
 every other prince, lamentable :---almoil all h is re- 
 iources gone, and an infolent, formidable, triumph- 
 ant enemy, proceeding and carrying conqueft by 
 rapid (Hides through his country. He called upon 
 h:s people to fupport him. The ftates of the Ne- 
 therlands, in (lead of afiifi.ing him to flop the pro- 
 greis of the enemy, invited and opened their gates 
 to them, put them in then bofem, and were (lung. 
 Of the other dates, i'orr.e refute their aid, while 
 lome have recourl'e to Feeble expedients; and, to 
 evade the weight, temporife, procr^ftinate, and fhuf- 
 fl^. till at length will come the French army, and 
 force them to do for their enemy ten times more 
 than (if cone timely, and with a good grace) might 
 lave the empire and thcmielvcs. The King of 
 Prussia, one cf thole ftates, on being called up- 
 on, lays he is bufily employed in iecuring the plun- 
 der of Poland, and cannot come — while the tygcr 
 is glutting in the biooci of the haimlels flocks, the 
 
GERMAN EMPIRE. 85 
 
 huntfmen are coming upon htm, to cut him off, 
 As an Englishman, zealous for tnc welfare of my 
 country, I wifh the King of Prussia may not, 
 by his attention to Poland, facriftce all G or many to 
 the French. As an honed man, I cmnot a;lp en- 
 tertaining a wifh, that the fcandalous and outrage- 
 ous wrongs done to Polsnd, and this treachery to 
 the allies whom he himfelf brought in*o the prelcnt 
 difficulties, may be expiated by any calamity, how* 
 ever great, that does not extend to the intcreft or 
 wellbeingof Europe. 
 
 It is a maxim in courts of equity, that a man 
 coming to demand redress, fhould com* with clean 
 hands, and, feeking equity, fhould do equity. 
 This maxim has unfortunately never yet extended 
 to decisions between ftate^s ; power is their right, 
 and force decides — Yet, in a conted like the prc- 
 fent, the very foundation of which is hoftility to 
 -kings, and which is carried on in the twofold way 
 of arms, in the open field, and private negociation 
 for infurrcftion ; when, for the intered of the 
 caufe thev eipoule, as well as their own perfonai 
 fafcty 7 kings Ihould aflame at once their bed form 
 to appreciate them!elves, and diicredit their ene- 
 mies in the eyes of mankind — in fuch a Hate of 
 things, I lay, for the King of Prussia and the 
 Empress of .'Russia to take the pajt thry have 
 done with regard to Poland, is io extravagant, that 
 we can only account for it in the will of the Al- 
 mighty ptcdiipofing them for Icme ex taoidinary 
 cnh.s. No one would expect them to depart fron^lf 
 the;r accudomed crooked path of policy, if iafe'y 
 did not loudly call upon them to proceed in the 
 duett road. It is mondrous- to fee beings endowed 
 with common fenie, expending themieives in an 
 unjid druggie for aggrandizement, while the 
 fword of extinction is iufpended by a hair over 
 their heads. 
 
 H 
 
&6 REFLECTIONS AT LIEGE. 
 
 But to return — in this Mate is the young emperor 
 at this moment, deferted by his people in the Low 
 Countries, unaided by his Continental ally, and 
 fupported only by Great Britain. What the iffue 
 may be, God alone can tell : but every one pof- 
 feffing a heart of feeling, or a fingle fentiment of 
 honour or juftice, mud wifh that young prince a 
 fortunate delivery from the difficulties which the 
 impolicy and wickednefs of others have led him in- 
 to, and which the treachery of fome of them make 
 more formidable, if not utterly infuperable. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 h 
 
 JL HE various diitri&s or territories inte 
 #Vuch Germany is divided, go under a variety of 
 defignafions, not known among us as independent 
 titles to power — principalities, (eigniories, counties, 
 electorates, margravates, and bifhoprics lay and fpi- 
 ritual. Of the lay bifhoprics, Olnaburg, the prince 
 bifnop of which is our Duke of York, makes 
 one : and Liege, where we are now arrived is the 
 teuitory of a bifhop lay and fpiritual, or fpiritual 
 and temporal, one of the faireft kind of that clafs 
 — for he poffcfTes temporalities, and enjoys them ; 
 \vhere2S their lordfhips merely fpiriiual, enjoy and 
 ave the ingratitude and impudence to renounce 
 them : but no matter for that ; the bifhop of Liege 
 poiTrfles a bifhopric, fruitful in corn, wine, wood, 
 and pafture, with air extremely pleafant and tem- 
 perate ; and while the latter gives his teneftrial 
 clay health and appetite, the former afford him the 
 rreans of preferving the one, and indulging the 
 other, with true fpiritual comfort, and high eccle- 
 fiafticzl voluptuoufnefs. In cales of repletion, too, 
 
REFLECTIONS AT LIEGE. By 
 
 the mineral waters of the bifhopric, particularly 
 the well-known one of Spa, offer their aid ; and 
 fome of the bed beer in the world, which is brew- 
 ed in thefe territories diveriiftes his Ipiritual Lord- 
 fhip's cup, and, with its pungent bitter, fends 
 back his palate to his wine with renovated reiifh. 
 
 It is aftonifhing how incor.fiflent with them- 
 felves, and how diicordant in their conftituent prin- 
 ciples, fome very wife inftitutions are. Thus cpi(- 
 fopacy, and all other branches, pods or rank?, high 
 or low, commidioned or non-com;niffioned, of the 
 church, publicly and fyltemat lolly profels poverty, 
 abftinence, and an utter indifference to temporal 
 concerns, while their livings are enormous, and, 
 themfelves overfed. Nay, fo cautioufly has eccle- 
 fiaftical law provided for that, even in our liberal 
 eftablifhments, that a bifhop, at his inftalment, po- 
 iitively declares, in the face of God, at the holy 
 altar, that he is averfe to being a bifnop — nolo cpif- 
 (Opari — Under fuch conditions, what mull not the 
 charity, the condefcenfron, the mortifying fubmif- 
 fion of a divine be, to ftoop to a bifnopric, and 
 fufTer fuch a heavy load to he heaped upon his 
 back — againft his will \ Afiuredly, the impofing a 
 feilhopiic upon him mull be a great act of violence 
 on his inclinations : for I cannot think it poffible 
 that a Chriftian divine would, in the fir ft place, 
 commit the crime of fimony by fee king prefermen - , 
 and gaining it by proftitution ; much lels can I be- 
 lieve that he would be guilty, at the holy altar, of 
 a folemn aft of perjury, by {wearing nolo epifcopari, 
 if he was not actually, and bondf.de, averle to a 
 bifhopric. 
 
 The bifhop of Liege, however, may be fairly 
 acquitted on the fcore of his temporal half, for the 
 ff»3ie of tranfgreflkms committed by his Ipiritual' 
 half. And unqueftionably, asaChiiftian diving 
 he mud groan in Ipiritual humiliation, when he 
 ft&s&» that his tide is emblazoned with the gorge- 
 
REFLECTIONS AT LIEGE. 
 
 «us vanities of prinee of Liege, duke of Bouillon, 
 marquis of Franchemont. count of Locz, &c. Such 
 a let of proud .worldly titles ate of themielves iuf- 
 £cient (putting the wine and beer, and repletion, 
 Out of the quedion) to annihilate the ipiriiual me- 
 rits of the biihop, and expunge the grace of Goo 
 from hi* name here, if not from himlelf hereafter. 
 
 Of all kinds of fiavery, that nation groans be-* 
 r.rath the word, which has the name, without the 
 rfferice, of a free conflitutton ; and Germany 
 abounds with fuch. By the con dilution of this 
 bilbopric, the government com fills of three Hates, 
 the fhft is the chapter of Liege ; the iecond, lire 
 nobility • and ti.e third, the deputies of the towns 
 ah Thcie, however, ate very leidom call- 
 ed together, except to ro.ijc tcxts^ or on lome fuch 
 extraordinary emergency : but there is a committee 
 of the dates who meet thiee times a-week, and in 
 time of war daily ; they are always about the prince 
 Lilhop. to make remon (trances, and demand the 
 ledicis of grievances — from whence we may rea- 
 ibnabiv infer, tl.a the people aie well protected, 
 or at 'e^tl wcli g< v roed : the continual inteicourfe 
 between the committee and bifiiops. no doubt, 
 tending to promote a very happy influence in fa- 
 vour of the people ! 
 
 In forming this conllitution. fpecial care has been 
 taken to give the firfi. ftaie a great preponderance.. 
 The chapter is to conii it of fiatty perion?, who muit 
 cither prove their nobility 'for four generations, 
 both by father and mother, or have been d octets 
 or licentiates of divinity tor leven years, or of law 
 for five years, in fome famous univetfity, before 
 they can be admitted. 
 
 .. How is it that the profefTion of the law fhould 
 bear inch potent (way in aim oft all countries — that 
 even in Liege, a Catholic countiy and ecclefiafUcal 
 government, live yeans ftudy of the law fhould be 
 ied an equal qualification of leven of dv 
 
REFLECTIONS AT LIEGE. 89 
 
 In England, and its dependencies, the afcendancy 
 of the Ijw is flill greater ; and even in America, 
 that profeflion is the hrll Rep to Rate honours. 
 The truth is, that the icience of the law, which, 
 however ciefpicable in practice, is the nobleft of 
 human fciences, quickens and invigorates the un- 
 derRanding more than all the other kinds of learn- 
 ing put together ; while the Rudy of divinity (I 
 do not mean real divinity or morality, but that 
 whimfical iumble of miracles and incongruities, of 
 fullorne cant and ienieleis rhapi'ody, called 10 by 
 churchmen) contracts the undei Randing, and benda 
 it into a kind of cro >ked cunning. Formerly, the 
 clergy were the dilpenfers of the laws, and they 
 alone Rudied it — Happy times ! happy people ! 
 When the united powers of both lawyers and 
 priefts were lodged in the fame perion v it is no 
 wonder that they were able to enflave the perlons, 
 when they had got poflfttTion of the underRanding, 
 of the people — that we at this day fee fo many Ru- 
 pendous monuments remaining of their pride and 
 power, and that the bloated load of • epil'copacy dill 
 has its votaries ami lupporiers. 
 
 The bifhopt ic of Liege is very populous and ex- 
 tend ve, containing many large towns, many baro- 
 nies and ieigniories, ieventeen abbeys for men, who 
 mud be all gentlemen, and eieven for ladies, ex- 
 clufive of (warms of inferior note. In this diRri- 
 bution of the abbeys, maie and female, I do not 
 think that fufiicient regard has been had to eauality 
 of numbers : I really think the- fathers have beea 
 ill ufed. The ladies, though, I dare fay, are well 
 enough contented with the arrangement. 
 
 Although, as I have already apprized you. I do 
 not mean to enter into a minute defcripticn of 
 towns, '0 very eafily found in many volumes of 
 geography and hiitoiy, there occafionally occur cer- 
 tain cunofities in fome of thole towns, which it 
 would be unuardoiuble in me to oafs over, as ihcy 
 
 H 2 
 
)* REFLECTIONS AT LIEGE. 
 
 mu' not pei haps be found in fuch books of thofe 
 fcicr.ces as fall in your way. 
 
 I/pf, the capiul of the bifhopric, is unquefli- 
 onably a beautiful city, of immenle (ize : its opu- 
 lence, i's pleaiantneis, its plenty, and falubrity, 
 may be calculated fiom the name it has long been 
 exnreisly called by way of eminence — the Paradifc 
 &f Pritfts. — Indeed, it mud needs be a holy and 
 happy city ; for it is chiefly occupied with con- 
 Vents, churches, and other religious foundations. 
 
 Tht Paradife of Prief.s /—Excellent ! Why, if 
 the genius or lenluality himlelf were to torture his 
 invention for centuries, to fliike out an appella- 
 tion for the grand emporium of luxury, voluptu- 
 oulneis; and leniual enjoyment, he could not have 
 hit on one io tingularly appropriate as the Paradifi 
 of Pritjls. 
 
 In a p.tand cathedral here, are five great Hlver 
 ehrits full of reliques, beftdes ieveral filver ftatuefr 
 of faints; and a Saint Geoice on horieback, of 
 rr.sify gold; and in Saint William's Convent, 
 Without {.he city, is the tomb of the famous Englifh 
 traveller, Sir John Masdevilli, from whom 
 all lying travellers have been fince proverbially 
 called Mandeviltes — an appellation which, I pro- 
 mile you, I will haxard the imputation of dulnefs 
 lather than incur. I fuppole it was for his truly 
 pruftlike powers in the marvellous that he was ho- 
 noured with a birth among their rcveiences. They 
 have thought it nectffiry, however, to entieat, by 
 an inlet ipuon in bad French, all perions who lee 
 it, to pray for his loul. In truth, poor Sir John's 
 marvellous ftories were as harmleis as ever were 
 invented, and entertaining to boot. If lo much 
 could be laid for their reveiences, they might ven- 
 ture to reft their future fafety on their own inno- 
 cence and God's mercy: but I fear their rniiaclea 
 cut deeper, and will be found to go to a mucil 
 moie important and ienous account. 
 
ARRIVAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 9* 
 
 In the biftiopric of Liege, twenty miles from 
 the capital, (lands the famous town of Spa, {o re- 
 nowned for its excellent waters, that it has become 
 a vulgar name for almoft all mineral watets whatso- 
 ever. Thofe are faid to open obfttuftions, concoft 
 crudities, dry up exceflive moiftjre, and ftrengthen 
 the nerves and bowels ; and luch is their reputa- 
 tion, that prodigious quantities of them are carried 
 into foreign countries. 
 
 Fortunate coincidence, to have fuch a choice and 
 eafv panacea for intemperance attached to the Para- 
 difi of Priefls ! 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 A 
 
 IX-la-Chafeli.e — The imperial city 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, by the Germans called Achen, 
 lies at the diftance of twenty-fix miles, nearly eaft, 
 of Liege. A> it was a moderate fiage, the weather 
 fine, and the face of the country around beautiful, 
 I found my journev extremely plealant, and enieiecl 
 that famous city in as good a dilpofition to he pleaied 
 with it, as circumftances and reflections io melan- 
 choly as mine (which, in lpite of every effort, 
 would intrude themielves) may be fuppoled to 
 allow. It is certainly a very fine city, and well 
 defeives the reputation it has in all parts of the 
 wot Id. 
 
 Perhaps no city in Germany has a fairer claim to 
 antiquity than Aix-la-Chapelle ; for it was famous, 
 even, in the time of the ancient Romans, for its 
 waters, and was by them oiled Aquifgranum. or 
 XJrbs Aqiienfis. It was deftn.yeu b> the H tus, 
 who, like the Fiench now, dc droved and turn L j d 
 under foot every vefti^e of itfinemcntj Wherever 
 
92 ARRIVAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPEI LE, 
 
 they canieri their conquefh; and it lay in ruins till 
 it was icbuih by Charlbiagne. who made i: the 
 feat of his empire on this due of the Alps. By 
 him it was oidained, the kings of the Romans 
 fhould be crowned there: and it has been famous, 
 lince that time-, for councils and treaties, particu- 
 larly that famous one between France and Spain in 
 1663, and another lately between Fiance and Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Although there are many Proteilants, both Lu- 
 therans and Calvinifts, in this city, they are obli- 
 Iigetl to go to church two miles off, at a place called 
 Vaels, in the dutchy of Limburg ; lo that Popery 
 prevails with fome portion of its intolerance. Here, 
 as in all other places fubjec~t to its power., it has 
 railed the Gothic gloomy pile, accumulated enor- 
 mous mafies of wealth, and hoarded up treafures, 
 under the gulfing pretexts of religious parapherna- 
 lia : a golden cafket, let with precious flones of 
 ineftimable value, is hoarded up, not for the a&ual 
 value of the moveable, but as the only fit recepta- 
 cle for a relique it contains — a curious one, too, 
 even of its kind — a bit of earth [ — A bit cf earth ? 
 yes ! a bit of earth, common ea>th ! — only with 
 this fortunate circumdance in addition, that a drop 
 of the blood of Saint Stephen fell, or is faid to 
 have fallen, upon it, as he was Honed to death I 
 think of that, mafter Frederick ! Why, when 
 thofe things occur to me-, I feel myfelf agitated by 
 a whimfical tumult of fenlations, ierious and ludi- 
 crous, for row fur and merry, that it is impolTible to 
 deicribe — lomething like that flare in which the 
 fpirits flutter when a perfon whimpers between a 
 Isugh and ciy. But, to cany the matter farther, 
 when we recolhct that lome of the wiled and 
 blighted of mankind, (ome of the braved wairiors, 
 fterneft philoiophers, and abled datelmen, that 
 ever ex i (ted, have been the dupes of thole (hallow 
 artificer?, and a&u&lly have knelt in devout homage 
 
ARRIVAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 93 
 
 to thefe bits of earth, bone, flicks, and Hone, &c. 
 we mud allow that it anfwers a great and noble end, 
 by pointing out to us the infirmity of our nature, 
 and fhewing us, to ufe the words of one of our 
 brightefl luminaries, " what fhadows we are, and 
 what fhadows we purfue !" 
 
 We have already had, and are likely yet to have' 
 fuch a clumiy load of cathedrals lo attend to, that 
 I fhould not mention that of Aix-la-Chapelle (a 
 large, gloomy, dreary, o!d-fafhioned, Gothic pile), 
 were it not that it carries along with it tome matters 
 worthy of notice. What think, you, then, of an 
 emperor, a pope, and three hundred and iixtv-five 
 bifhops, in one company ? Oh ! precious alrjm- 
 blage ! But where, 1 hear you afk — where, in the 
 name of Gob, collect the bifhops ? a pope and 
 emperor are cafily had ! My dear Frederick, 
 three hundred and fixty-five bifhops might cafily be 
 picked up in Chriftendom. and leave more behind, 
 too, than would ferve any ufeful purpole to the 
 world. — Yes, the Emperor Charlemagne, and 
 three hundred and fixty-five bifhops, were; prelent 
 at the confecration of this cahed a) by Pope Leo 
 the Third. That emperor lies now in great (lata 
 under the altar of the choir: Pope Leo rots 111 
 Rom; ; arcd for the bifhops, they are gone, per- 
 haps,, as HamUt lays, " to ftop a beer barrel." — 
 
 •* Th* imperial Cesar, dead, and turn'd to clay, 
 Might Hop a hole, to keep the wind away " 
 
 From fuch a fplendid and opulent attendance at 
 the conicciation, one would naturally expect that 
 this cathedral would have been, at the very outlet," 
 enriched with coit/'y and valuable trappings: but 
 no--- one ima^e of that of Liege would pn chafe the 
 whole. It fhould be recollected, however, that 
 they were ali, excepting the emperor, Churchman 
 —a claf,, whole charity, geneially lpeaking. ha*, 
 iike a-ringj neither end nor beginning ; or at leali 
 
94 ARRIVAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 ends and begins in itfelf, where nobody can fee it ; 
 or, according to the old proveib, begins at home. 
 
 To compeniate, however, for tnofe worldly, 
 worthlefs vanities, gold, filver, and jewels, his 
 Holinefs, and their three hundred and fixty-five 
 Graces, prefented the cathedral with lome exqui- 
 site pieces of relique, of more ineftimable value, 
 by their account, than the mines of Potofi or Gol- 
 conda : the firft, an old covering — it would be folly 
 for me to fay, whether gown, petticoat, or fhift — 
 but they, that is to fay, the priefts. fay, and the 
 faithful believe them, that it was the fhift worn by 
 the Virgin Mary at the birth of Christ — ho\\r 
 their HolineiTes came by it, is hard to conjecture: 
 — in the next place, a piece of coarfe cloth, which, 
 they alio fay, and are believed when they fay, was 
 girt about Christ on the crofs: thirdly, apiece 
 of cord, with which they fay he was bound :— » 
 fourthly, fome of the blood of Saint Stephen', 
 now eighteen hundred years old \ — and, fifthly, a 
 pi&utc of the Virgin and Child, embofted on a 
 jaiper, by Saint Luke. With all due deference to 
 their Reverences' knowledge, I fhouid think a do- 
 zen flatues in gold of the apoftles would be rather 
 a more valuable gift, and more ornamental, than 
 thefe rags and cords, which 1 dare fay did not coft 
 altogether fix pence. We talk here of our blue 
 libbons, our red ribbons, and our ftars as great do- 
 nations ; but I think the prefents of the Pope and 
 three hundred and fixty-nve bifeops to the cathe- 
 dial'of Aix-la-Ghapelle, beat them out of the field, 
 whether we confider the magnificence of the gift, 
 or the generofity of the givers. 
 
 But that which, above all things, renders Aix. 
 la-Chapelle worthy of notice, is the falubrity of its 
 waters, which bring from England, and all other 
 European nations, a van. concouile of valetudina. 
 rians, who contribute at once to the gaiety and 
 ©pulence of the city and adjacent country- Some 
 
ARRIVAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 95 
 
 •f thofc waters are ufed for drinking, and others 
 for bathing, reiembling very much, in their qua- 
 lity, the virtues of thole of Bath in Somer . f erfnire, 
 but that lome of them are ftill hotter and fhonger: 
 they are unplealant to the tafle till ufe reconciles 
 the palate to them, and mod of them have a very 
 offenfive (mell ; but they are often powerful ia 
 effe£t., and give relief in a great variety of mala- 
 dies ; and they are rendered ftill more palatable by 
 the commodious neatnefs of the baths, the excel- 
 lence of the accommodations, and the great plenty 
 of provifions, which are at once good and reafona- 
 blc in this city. 
 
 I ftaid fo fhort a time at Aix-la-Chapelle, that' I 
 could not, without the aid of lome of the miracles 
 wrought by the faints of the Romifh church, or 
 Sir John Mandeville, acquire a fufficient 
 knowledge of the people, to attempt a deienption 
 of them, or their manners — but it and Spa are fo 
 well known, that you cannot have much trouble in 
 finding a defcription of them already written. 
 
 As far as my obiervations enabled me to judge, 
 there was nothing in the German character that had 
 the power either to create intereft, or excite great 
 attention.— They are rather to be approved than 
 admired; and, wanting thofe prominent features 
 that fo whimfically chequer other nations with the 
 extremes of bad and good, majeftic and ridiculous, 
 afford little fubjett to the traveller for the indul- 
 gence of fentimental re{KQ:on, or to the phiioi* 
 ph#r for the cxerciie of moral fpeculation. 
 
96 REFLECTIONS AT JULIERS. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 B 
 
 'IDDING adieu to the famous city of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, which, very untraveiler-:ike, I 
 palTed without drinking of its waters, I pufhed on, 
 and loon arrived at the city of Juliers, the capital 
 of a dutchy of that name, fixteen miles from Aix« 
 1 he country itielf is wonderfully fruitful, teeming 
 with abundance of all forts of corn, wood, paflure, 
 woad, coal, and cattle ; above all, a moft excellent 
 breed of hories, of which great numbers are ex- 
 ported. 
 
 As to the city, though a capital, there was no- 
 thing in it that I thought worth attention-— that of 
 neatne s is its greateft praife. It is not, Ike Liege, 
 overloaded wi h enormous church edifices ; but, 
 what is much better, the people are opulent, the 
 poor well fupplied, and all happy. In all likeli- 
 hood, this is owing to the inhabitants being a mix- 
 ture of Protefbnt and Roman Catholic ; for, by a 
 
 - y between the Ele£tor Palaiine and the Em- 
 
 >f Brandenburg, refpc fling the iucceiTion of 
 
 ritoties of the Duke of Cleves. "both the 
 
 Li herans and Calviniils of this dutchy, and of 
 
 Berg, are to enjoy the public exerciie of their relt- 
 
 ■ d all other religious rites. 
 
 If txperiet cc would allow us to wonder at any 
 thing in she management of ihe rulers of nations, 
 i: mufl finely be natter of aftonifhrnent, that in 
 an aiticlc of fuch confequence as eternity, and 
 Which mull be directed by private ientimens alone, 
 luch violence fhouid ivfiematically be offered to 
 opinion, and that mankind fhouid be dragoone ., 
 as they have been for io many weary centuries, into 
 
REFLECTIONS AT JULIERS. 97 
 
 the profeffion of particular modes of faith. Com- 
 bating opinion by foice is lo ablurd, that I am lure 
 thole who attempted it, never could flatter them- 
 selves with the flighted hopes of luccefr. It is 
 therefore clear, that it was in motives very different 
 from real willies for the eternal welfare of man's 
 foul, that religious persecution originated. Politi- 
 cal nnefle and date dratagem are the parents of 
 perfecufion : and until every conditution is clean 
 purged of religious prejudices, it mud continue to 
 be clogged with obdiuclions, and involved in con- 
 fufion. If it be objected that certain religious feels 
 are hodile to certain dates, it may be aufwered, 
 that they are fo becauie the date is hodile to them. 
 Ceafe to perlecute, and they will ceale to be hof- 
 tile — Sub'ata caufa tollitur efftclus. It is folly, 
 broad folly, to luppole that there are in any parti- 
 cular religion, feeds of hodility to government, 
 any more than in any particular name, complexion, 
 itature, or colour of the hair. Put, for experi- 
 ment, all the men in the kingdom, of above five 
 feet ten inches high, under teds and disqualifica- 
 tions, (and it would be full as rational as any other 
 teds) — And, my life for it, they would becume 
 hodile, and veryjudly, too; for there is no prin- 
 ciple, human or divine, that enforces our attneh- 
 i 1 :nt to irfat government which refutes us protec- 
 tion, much leis to that wh;ch brands us with dis- 
 qualifications, and digmatiles us with unmerited 
 marks of inferiority. « 
 
 Tne dates of this dutchy, and that of Berg, cm - 
 fid of the nobilny and the deputies of the four 
 chief towns of each ; and they lay claim to great 
 privileges in their diets — but they aie tubjr-tr. to the 
 6lor Palatine, to whom they annually grant a 
 Certain turn for the ordinary charges of the govern- 
 ment be fides another which bear;; the name of a 
 f:oe gift. 
 
 I 
 
98 REFLECTIONS AT JULIERS. 
 
 Some authors fay that this town was founded by 
 Julius ; others deny it ; the difj>ute h?s run high, 
 and is impoflible 10 be determined : fortunately, 
 however, for mankind, it does not fignify a ftraw 
 who built it ; nor could the dccifion of the quef- 
 tion an Twer any one end that I know, of inflruction, 
 profit, or entertainment. Parva leves capiunt animes. 
 Thole who rack their brains, or rather their heads, 
 for brains they can have none, with fuch finical 
 impertinent inquiries, fhould be punifhed, with mor- 
 tification and dilappointment, for the mifufe of their 
 time. But what elle can they do ? You fay, Why, 
 yes ; they might fit idle, and refrain from waiting 
 paper with fuch execrable ftuff ; and that would be 
 better. By the bye, if there were two good friends 
 in every library in Europe, licenfed to purge it, 
 like the Barber and Curate in Don Quixotte, of all 
 its ufelels and milchievous fluff, many, many fhelves 
 that now groan under heavy weights would fland 
 empty. 
 
 Travelling over a very even road, and a country 
 extremely flat, (for from Aix-la-Chapelle I met 
 with but one hill), I arrived at Cologne, the capi- 
 tal, rfot only of the archbifhopnc of that name, but 
 of the Circle of the Lower Rhine. My fpirits, 
 which were not in the veiy befl tone, were not at 
 all railed on entering the city, by the ringing of 
 church-bells, of all tones and fizes, in every quar- 
 ter. Being a flranger, I thought it had been a re- 
 joicing day ; but, on inquiiy, found that it was the 
 conftant practice. Never, in my life, had I heard 
 fuch an infernal clatter: never befofe had I (een 
 any thing fo gloomy and melancholy — the ftreets 
 black — difmal bells tolling — bald-pated friars, in 
 myriads, trailing their long black forms through the 
 ftreets, rr.culding their faces into every fhape that 
 art had enabled them to a flume, in order to excite 
 commiferation, and begging alms with a melancholy 
 fong calculated for the purpofe, fomewhat like that 
 
REFLECTIONS AT JULIERS. gc, 
 
 of oar blind beggars in London, and productive of 
 the fame difagreeable cffecl upon the ipiriis. In 
 fhort, I was not an hour in Cologne, when thole 
 circumftances, conlpiring with the iniuperable 
 melancholy of my mind, made me with myieif out 
 of it. 
 
 Neverthelefs, Cologne is a fine city ; and if it be 
 any Satisfaction to you to fpin thole fine imaginary 
 ligaments that, in the brain of the book-worm, con- 
 nect the ancient and modern world, I will inform 
 you, that it was anciently called Colonia Agrippin.j, 
 becaufe Agrippina, the mother of Nero, was 
 born there, and honored it with a Roman colony, 
 becaule it was her birth-place. The mind, forced 
 back to that period, and contemplating the ;nii— 
 chiefs of that rnonfter Nero, cannot help wiihing 
 that Cologne had been burnt the nigth of her birth, 
 and Mils Agrippina. buried in the ruins, ere fhe 
 had lived to give birth to that fcouige of the world. 
 
 Although the eftablilhed religion here be the 
 Roman Catholic, extraordinary as it may appear, 
 they are very jealous of power ; and though the 
 elector, by his officers, administers juftice in all 
 criminal caufes, they will not permit him, in per- 
 Jon, to refide above three days at a time in the citv, 
 nor to bring a great train with him when he vifits 
 it ; for this reaion he commonly refides at $onne. 
 
 Cologne has a very conilderable trade, particularly 
 in Rhenifh wine ; and its gin is reckoned the belt 
 in the world, and bears a higher price than any 
 other in all the nations «f Europe. 
 
 Like all great Roman Catholic cities, it has a 
 profusion of churches, crolTes, miracles, faints, and 
 church trinkets ; and I really think it has more 
 ftceples and bells than any two cities in Germany. 
 As Liege was called the Pajadiie of Priefts, this 
 ought to be called the Golgotha of Skulls and 
 Skull-caps. In the church of Saint Ursula, they 
 ihevv, or pretend at leaft to foew, the bone* of 
 
lOO REFLECTIONS AT JULIER&. 
 
 eleven thoufand virgin martyrs. The fkulls of forne 
 of thole imaginary virg'ns are in fi'ver cales, and 
 others in fkuli-ccips, of cloth, of gold, and velvet. 
 And in the church of Saint Gerion, are no lefs 
 tiizn nine hundred heaos of Moonfh cavaliers, of 
 the army of the Ernpeior Constant ine. (previ- 
 ous to that iaint's converfion to Chnitianitv), who 
 they lay was beheaded for re f lift rig to laei ficc to 
 idols: by the bye, the Popifh divines bum. inftead 
 of beheading, for not facrificing to idols — Every 
 one of thole heads, however, has a cap of icailct, 
 adorned with pearls. The whole forms a fpeclacle 
 no doubt equally agreeable and edifying. It fhuck 
 me, however, as an extremely ludicrous fight, rftal- 
 gie the felemnity of lo many death's heads: and. 
 when their ftory was recounted. I could not help 
 ernaily chuckling, and faying (rather pur.ning'y, 
 to be lui'e), '• Ah ! what Ho'ckfoadi yc rr.u-ft have 
 • n, to iu-fer vourlelves to be feparated f?< ?n your 
 fnug warm bodies, rather than drop down and wor- 
 ih?p an idol, in wnich fo many good Chriitian di~ 
 have {hewn you an example!" This, you 
 nclucle, I laid to mylelf : an avowal of rnv 
 fentiments in that place might ha\e given my bend 
 a title to a fcarlet cap and pearls : and as I had lome 
 further life for it, I did not think, it expedient to 
 leave it behind me in the church of Saint Geriox 
 — -fo, very prudently, kept my mind to myiclf. 
 
 Coming out of the church, a multitude of beg* 
 gars, all in canonicals, or Undent's habits, fur- 
 rounded, befeeching me fo^blms — one. pour 1'amour 
 ?% Dieu ; another, pour farceur de !a Sainte 
 Vierge : a third, pour !e falut de notre Feeder? 
 teur ; a fourth, pour l'amour de Saint Glrio 
 and fo on i 
 
 When I had gone as far qs I wifhed in donation", 
 another attacked me ; though I told him my cha< 
 riiy-bar.k was cxhaufted, he peifevercd, and was 
 ttricotamoniy Jolicitout — till at length, having ea.- 
 
REFLECTIONS ON T COLOGNE. IOI 
 
 haufted the whole catalogue of faints that arc to be 
 found in the calendar, he tailed his voice from the 
 miferable whine of petition, and exclaimed with 
 great energy, " Par les neuf cent tetes des Cavaliers 
 Maures qui font fan&ifies au Ciel, je vous conjure 
 de me faire l'aumone !" This was too formidable an 
 appeal to be flighted; and fo, in homage to the 
 fkulls and red caps, I put my hand in my pocket, 
 and flopped his clamours. 
 
 Thole miferable modes of peculation are the rood 
 pardonable of any produced by the church; we 
 have no right to regret a trifle iacrificed at the 
 fhrine of companion, even when that compalTion 
 is miftaken ; but our reafon revolts at impofition, 
 when it calls coercion to us aid, and ailumes the 
 name of right. 
 
 Without any national predilection, which you 
 know I am above, I think our church affairs ia 
 Scotland are sruuged upon a better iyitem than any 
 oilier that J know of: hence their clergy are in. 
 general examples worthy of imitation, for learning, 
 piety, and moral conduct 
 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 L 
 
 (ABOURED invefligations to eftablifh 
 connections between thetbiftory of the ancient and 
 bufinels of the modern world, and virulent difputek 
 about trifles of antiq nty, iuch as in what year this 
 place was built, or that great man was born, whan 
 and where ]ui. ius Casar landed in England, 
 whether he palled this road or that, what route 
 Hannieal u.ok over the Alps, and Juch like, are 
 io effeuiially uniniesetting, ufelefs, and unimpor- 
 tant, io unpiofuaDle, and, one would think, fo 
 
 I 2 
 
102 REFLECTIONS ON COLOGNE. 
 
 painful too, that it is wonderful how fo miny men 
 of great learning have been unwife enough to em- 
 ploy their lives in the refearch. 
 
 It does not follow, however, that when informa- 
 tion that tends to recall to our minds the great men 
 of antiquity is prefrnted to us, we fhould reje£t it. 
 A man of claffical tafte and education feels a delight 
 in thofe little memorials of what gave him pleafure 
 in his youth. 1 know a gentleman, who. being at 
 Seville^ in Spain, travelled to Cordova, for no other 
 purpoie but to fee the town where Llcan and Se- 
 neca were born : and I dare fay, that if you weie 
 at Cologne, you would be much pleafed to fee the 
 town-houie. a great Gothic building, which, con- 
 tains a variety of ancient infcriplions ; the fii/t to 
 commemorate the kind nets of Julius C/Zsax to 
 the L'bii, who inhabited this place, and of whom 
 you have found mention made by him in his Com- 
 mentaries, and alio his bi.ilding two wooden bud.es 
 •vet the Rhine: a Second corn memora res Augus- 
 tus lending a colony heie. There i:> alio . tx\ - 
 bow ^)f whalebone, twelve feet long, eight broad, 
 and four.inches thick, which ihey who (peak of it 
 cotij-. £t.ire to have belonged to the Em^t ior Maxi* 
 MiN. Theje are alio io'ne Roman inscriptions in 
 the arfena!, the impou of which I now forget. 
 
 It is veiy extraordinai v, but certainly a t, ct, that 
 there are, about Cologne, families yet exifring, who 
 indu'ge the lent ieis ambition of pietenuing to be 
 dicended from the ancient Romans, ana who actu- 
 ally produce their genealogies, tarried cown from 
 the fiiit time this ci.y wa.v maac a color.y of trie 
 Roman empiie. Or ah kmas of vanity, this is 
 perhaps the molt ex'raviigciiu : for, if ant q iity 
 merely be the o! j<£L all ate tq ;ally high, fince ail 
 muft have oiig nated from t i.c lame (lock ; and if 
 it Le the pi ch ot belonging to a particular famj v 
 who were d liniguilheo fa ( vaioui or virtue, a claim 
 wincn phe« oniy icrves to ptovc the dcgeneiacy of 
 
REFLECTIONS ON COLOGNE. 1 03 
 
 t l ■ claimant, it could not apply in the cafe ©f a 
 tile people : but this is among the fiailties of 
 h ifr&nity ; and we are often io dazzled with the 
 fttlendour of tenefirial glory, tliat we endeavour to 
 be allied to it even by the moll remote and ridicu- 
 lous conne&ions. 1 heard of a man, whole pride 
 and bouft, when drunk, was, that Dean Swift 
 had ence thrown his mother's ov(l«: Was a* 
 
 oyiter-wench) about the ftreet, and then gsve her 
 half a crown as an atonement for the injury. On 
 the flrength of this afiinity did he call the Dean 
 nothing but C oufin Jonathan, though the Dean was 
 dead before lie was born ! 
 
 But of all the {lories 1 have ever freard as illu- 
 flrative of this ft range ambition, that to hifch the late 
 Lord Anson has left us is the molt finking. When 
 that great man was travelling in the E^lL he hired. 
 a vefiel to vifit the ifhnd of Tenedos : his pilot, a 
 modern Gteek, pointing to a bay as they lailed 
 along, exclaimed in great triumph, ■< There, a v. 
 thete it was that our fret lav. 5 ' — <; What fle£t ?" 
 interrogated Anson— ;i Why, our Grecian fl^er, 
 at ihe fiege of Ttoy," returned the pilot. 
 
 Wlule thole doughty- deicendan's of the ancient 
 Romans indulge the cheeiiefs idea of their great 
 and.iiluftrious line of ancient aneeiby, the prince 
 who rules them felicitates himfelf with the more 
 fuhftantial dignities and emoluments of his modern 
 offices. As eltClor and archbifhop of Cologne, he 
 has dominion over a large, fruitful, anci opulent 
 - country : he is the molt powerful of the ecc'.efi -flr- 
 ca; electors : he has many iuiiragan j nicer, 1 y and 
 (pnitual. under him ; and he is archchaucn'-or of 
 the Holy Roman Empire. The revenues of Iris 
 archb'.ihopric • amount annually to one hundreu nd 
 thii t y thouiand pounds Sterling ; and as eicct -;, he 
 is poll. lied of leveial other greac benefices. I ; re- 
 lume, becauie lie is a prince, that he is a m < of 
 fenic ; and, 1 -will venture 10 iay, that, ai iuch, he 
 
104 REFLECTIONS ON COLOGNE, 
 
 would not barter thofe good things for the power 
 to demon ftrate that Lucretia was his aunt, Bru- 
 tus his grandfather, and the great Julius Ca:sar 
 himfelf his coufin-german. 
 
 Chr ist chofe his dilciples out of fifhermen. The 
 Chapter of Cologne is, perhaps, on the contiary, 
 the very mod anrtocratic body exi fling, being corn- 
 poled of forty canons, who arc princes or counts 
 of the empire — Of thofe, twenty-five chooie the 
 archhifhop, and many advance one of their own 
 body to that great and wealthy dignity, if they 
 pleale. 
 
 Fiom Cologne I proceeded to the town of Bonne, 
 which is laid to take its name from the pleaiantneis 
 of its fituation. Here the elettor rcf.de?, and bos a 
 very fine palace. The country aiound is extremely 
 fiuitful and pleafant, and is bit lT^d with moft of the 
 good things which render the rich magnificent and 
 hippy, and remind the poor of their mfettofity and 
 M'fetchednefs — particularly wine, which is here re- 
 maikably excellent. It contains chutches, priefts, 
 convents, cloiftcis, &c. ; but 1 need not mention 
 them — what place could exifr, without them ? 
 
 I (hould not furget to tell you, that, at this piece, 
 Julius Casar built one of his bridges aeiois the 
 Rhine — wo; ks which would have handed down t*> 
 poileriiy the name of a common man, for the mag- 
 nitude of the (tii.&ure and ingenuity of the contri- 
 vance, but are loft in the crowu of aftcnifhing talents 
 which di(lir.gu:ilied that brighteft of morals. The 
 greatcft biogiapher of antiquv. y iay> of him, that lie 
 was as greac a general as Hannibal, as great an 
 oratoi as Cicero, and as great a politician as Au- 
 gustus ; but it might be aadt-c, thai he was among 
 the hi It poets of his day — that he was of the hilt 
 mechanical genius, and the nneft gentleman, in 
 Rome. 
 
 Nature feems to have formed, in Cesar, a com- 
 pendious union of all human talents, as if to de- 
 
REFLECTIONS ON COLOGNE. 105 
 
 mo-'jftra'e how unavailing *hey were when oppofed 
 to fli:6l t'g'.d honeily and virtue in the character of 
 Brutus. 
 
 To go from Bonne to Frankfort, there are two 
 ways — one over the mountains of Wetterania, the 
 other up the river K.une. I made no rietftatitin" to 
 adopt the latter, and was rewarded for my choice 
 with the view of as fine a country, inhabited by js 
 fine a race of people, as I had ever leen. Valleys 
 filled with herd?, plains enamelled with corn-fields,, 
 and the hiils covered with vineyards, regaled the 
 eye, and conveyed to the mind ail the felicitating 
 ideas of plenty, natural opulence, and true proipe- 
 rity. My anxiety, however, to get forward, and 
 ddengage mylelf from a fpecies of lolitade in a 
 country where, though travelling is cheap, accom- 
 modations of moft kinds in the public houfes are 
 bad, induced rWe to pufh on, without taking the 
 time necelldiy for making accurate oblervalions on 
 the country as I palled ; io that, gliding, as it were, 
 imperceptibly, through a number or towns, of 
 which J lecolkft nothing diltmclly but the names 
 of Coblentz ana Mentz, I arrived at the great, free, 
 and imperial city of Frankfort on the Maine. 
 
 Here I fhall (top, for a fhort time, my relation, 
 in order to give you time for jufl: reflection and ex- 
 amination of what I have already written : and as, 
 in the latter part of it, I have Ikimmed very lightly 
 over the country, I deft re that you will lupply the 
 deficiency of my information by cloie reiearch in 
 books ; inform yourlelf of the great outlines of the 
 Germanic Conflitution ; look back to its origin, its 
 prog re Is, and its eftabhih merit ; thence proceed to 
 the difiinft parts, or inferior ftatcs, of which it is 
 com poled ; ponder them all well ; and from thole 
 draw your own inferences, and let me hear what 
 they are with fieedom : (hould they be wrong, I 
 win endeavour to let them right ; but Ihould they 
 bcrjght, they will afford me the moft liveiy fatijfc. 
 
lob FRANKFORT DESCRI BEJX 
 
 faction ; for they will (erve to correct one of the 
 great eft errors under which youth labours — 3n over- 
 weening, fanguine imagination, that things in this 
 life are, or at leaft can be modelled into perfection •, 
 whereas experience, and a juft oblervation of the 
 hi (lory of mankind, will (hew, that on this bail 
 things will never be as they ought, but muft remain 
 «»s they are — imperfect. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 X. HE country about Frankfort is delight, 
 ful, rich and fruitful, and watered by the beautiful- 
 river Maine, which divides the city into two parts,. 
 that on the north being called Frankfort, and that 
 on the fouth, Saxenhaufen, from the Saxons, who 
 are fuppofed to have been the founders of it. The 
 city itfelf is large, populous, and rich, and difttn- 
 guifhed for being the place where the emperor and 
 king of the Romans is elected — though, by the ap- 
 pointment of Charlemagne, Cologne has a fupe- 
 jior claim to that honor. The magiftrates, and great 
 part of the inhabitants, are Lutherans or Calvinifts; 
 notwithstanding which, moft of the churches are in 
 the hands of the Roman Catholics — a laudable in- 
 ftance of the true tolerant f pi rit of a wife and virtu- 
 ous institution, and a heavy reflection upon, as well 
 as a noble example to the Popifh Powers of Europe. 
 The territory belonging to Frankfort is of very 
 eonfiderable extent; and the trade carried oa 
 ihtough it, by means of the rivers Rhine and 
 Maine, of very great importance, not only to the 
 country iilelf, but to other coaimeicial nations, and 
 particularly to Great Britain, whole manufactures 
 
FRANKFORT DESCRIBED. 107 
 
 -are Tent to Frankfort, and thence circulated through 
 the Con tine jt, in na » quantities. 
 
 The ort are talked of all over Eu- 
 
 rope — of fuch importance are they in the world of 
 Co nmcicp, They arc held, one at Eafter, and ano- 
 ther in September 1 , and Continue for three weeks, 
 d in g which time the refbrt of people there from 
 all quarter* is aftonifmng. Every thing is done by 
 the government to lender them as atli active to mer^ 
 chancs as poffible ; and ta;:es or duties are extrcm-ly 
 low — -a b.iie ol ue of ten or twenty thoufand 
 
 crowns paying dutv only abojt ten or eleven pence 
 or our mon< : v. A!' commodities from all partb >f 
 the world are told there, and circulated through the 
 empire ;but, particularly, bo ;k> art* iold in prodi- 
 gious quamit res'. After the fairs are over, the {hojs 
 of the foreign merchants are fhut up, and their 
 names written over their doors. 
 
 To give an idea of the great importance thefe 
 fairs are to comme.ce, 1 need only mention, that 
 in the prefent war, the impediments thrown by the 
 French in the way of the t ran fit of goods up the 
 Rhine, and the- (hutting up that fair, gave a moft 
 alarming paralyns to the manufacturing eftdh.ifh- 
 ments of England, and a (hock to public credit in 
 Cpnfequc c. , that would, but for the timely inter- 
 ference of Parliament, have, in all probability, been 
 fatal to the national credit. 
 
 Frankfort is in many refpefts a pleafant place: 
 the merchants are extremely convivial and fociable, 
 and form clubs, where they meet to drink tea and 
 coffee, and play at cards. There is a playhoufc 
 alio, a g'ear number of coffee-houfes, and other 
 lioules of entertainment in abundance. The coun- 
 try around is cohered with woods and vineyards, 
 and he c icumjacent villages are very pleaiant, and 
 well fnpplied with houles of entertainment, to 
 which the inhabitants of the city refort in the 
 
lo8 FRANKFORT DESCRIBED. 
 
 S^m-rer feafon : ana the inns in Fiankfort are 
 excellent. 
 
 A fmgular cnftom prevails here, which I think 
 worth mentioning: Taverns are clenotea by pine- 
 trees planted before the doors of them ; and the 
 different piices of the wines in their teliais are 
 marked in ophers on the door-pods. 
 
 In the town heie is preiented the orig'nal Gol- 
 den Bdl, or Pope's Authority, which contains the 
 rules and orcers to be obierved at the election of 
 the Emperors. The Golden Bull is never fhown 
 to Grangers but in the prelence of two of the coun- 
 cil and the enetary — It is a little manulcripi in 
 quarto, conf. fling of forty-two leaves of parch- 
 ment, with a gold leal of three inches diameter, of 
 the value of twenty ducats, hung to it by a cord of 
 yellow (ilk. It is fa id to be written in Latin and 
 •Gothic charrcters, without diphthongs; and kept 
 In a black box together with two wiitten tianfla- 
 tions of it into the German language. 
 
 It is laid of Frank !ort, that the Roman Catholics 
 polTcfs the churches, the Lutherans the dignities, 
 and the Calvinifls the riches. It is therefore one 
 of the few places in Chriflendom where the 
 churches and the riches do not go into the lame 
 hands. 
 
 From Frankfort to Augfbirgh, I pafled through 
 a number of towns, all of them io very inconliuer- 
 able as not to merit any particular deloription. The 
 way lies from the Palatinaie though the Ciicle of 
 Suibia. In the extreme end of the Palatinate, and 
 immediately before entering the Duichy of Wir- 
 tcmberg, the country is covered with fir-tiees, and 
 money is lo icarce in it, that a loal ol wheaten 
 bread, weighing eight pounds, cofts but two pence. 
 
 This city of Au^Iburgh is the c<p>tal of a biih- 
 opric of that name in the Circle of Suobia, and is 
 worthy of the attention of the ci.ifTical travpUei for 
 its antiquity. About twelve years befoie the birth 
 
FRANKFORT DESCRIBED. IC9 
 
 c/ Christ, Augustus Ccsar fubdued all this 
 country, and, on the place where Augfburgh now 
 ftands, formed a colony, gave the town the name 
 of Auguftfl Vindelicorum, and put it under the 
 government of Drusus the broiher of Tiberius, 
 afterwards emperor of Rome. The inhabitants of 
 this place were the Vindelici, a branch of the 
 Jliyrians. But, ancient though it be, it has little 
 more of antiquity to entitle it to notice than the 
 bare name ; for it has been pillaged io often, par- 
 ticularly by that monfter Attila, that there are 
 fcarcely any remains of its antiquity to be found. 
 
 Augfb irgh, is now, however a handfome city — 
 the public buildings in general magnificent, and 
 sdorned with fountains, water engines of a curious 
 conftrucVon, and liatues. 
 
 The mod rich and fplendid part of the town 
 belongs to a family of the name of Fuggeks (ori- 
 g-naly defcended fiom a weave;), who enriched 
 themfelves by commerce, and one of when render- 
 ed not only himfelf, but the whole family, conlpi- 
 cuous, by enertaining the emperor Charles the 
 Fihfj in a fuperb manner, and lupplying him with 
 money, and then throwing his bond into the fire ; 
 in return for which, the emperor, made him a 
 count of the empire. 
 
 This citv is remaikable for goldfmiths' ware ; and 
 its mechanics are equal to any in the world, for 
 wotks in gold, ivoiy, clocks, and time-pieces; and 
 they engrave better than any people in Germany, 
 which brings them conficlerable profis. But what 
 they are, above all other people, eminent fdr, is 
 the manufacturing fteel- chains io prodigioufiy fine, 
 that when one of them, of a fpan in length, h;;> 
 been put about the neck of a fiea, it lifts up the 
 whole of it as it leaps ; and yet thoie are iold for 
 let's than a (hilling of our money a piece. 
 
 Controveriy, and difference in ret gious options. 
 which has almoft, ever fence the commencement of 
 
 K 
 
110 FRANKFORT DESCRIBED. 
 
 Chriftianity, difgraced the human underflanding, 
 and defaced fociety, impofes upon the liberal, well- 
 thinking traveller, the office of iatirift but too 
 often. Augfburgh, however, is a fplendid ex- 
 ception, and holds up a mod glorious fpe&acle of 
 manly fenfe, generous lentimem, juftice, and I will 
 lay policy too, var.tjuilhing that fhark-jawed enemy 
 of mankind, bigotry. The magiflracy of Augf- 
 burgh is compofed of about an equal number of 
 Proteflants and Roman Catholics — their fenate con- 
 fifiingof twenty-three Roman Catholics and twenty- 
 two Lutherans, and their common Council of a 
 hundred and fifty of each : The executive power 
 is lodged in the fenate — the legiflative authority in 
 both bodies. But, what is hardly to be found any 
 where, they all, as well as the people, agree toge- 
 ther in the moll; perfect harmony, notwithstanding 
 the difference of religion ; and at all tables but the 
 communion table, they aflbciate together, dip in the 
 iame difh, and drink of the fame cup, as if they had 
 never heard of the odious diftincliou of Papifl and 
 Proteftant, but as being bound to each other by the 
 great and irrefragable bond of humanity : fellow- 
 creatures, afiecled by the fame feelings, impelled by 
 the lame paiTions,- labouiing under the lame necef- 
 fities, and heirs to the fame iufTerings, their means 
 of sffuaging the one, gratifying or refitting another, 
 and fupplying the third, are the lame, though che- 
 quered and varied a little in the mode — the load 
 alone different, the ends alike. Is it not cruel, 
 then — is it not intolerable, that the calamities inse- 
 parable from humanity fhould be aggravated with 
 artificial ftings, and the nakednels of human nature 
 expuled, and rendered more offenlive, by factitious 
 calamities of human contrivance? Curled v\tre 
 thole who fir ft fomented thole cilputes, and c 
 thofe apples of dilcord through the wot Id : blind 
 were they who firft were leduced fiom the paths 
 of peace by them ; and more curfed, and uiore 
 
ADVENTURE AT AUGSBURG H. 1 1 1 
 
 blind, mud they be, who, in this time of intellect 
 and illumination, continue on the one hand, to keep 
 up a iyftem io wicked and io deteftable, or, on tie 
 other, to iubmit to error at once lb foolifh and io 
 fatal. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 
 X OR the reafons mentioned in rny I a ft, 
 Augfbjrgh is a mod agreeable place to live in. 
 Touched with the sent.'',; ions natural Io a man who 
 loved to fee his fellow-cieatuies happy, my heart 
 expanded to a iyftem of peace and harmony, com- 
 prehending the whole globe : my mind expatiated 
 involuntarily on the blefiings and advantages deiiv- 
 ed from fuch a fyftem ; and, taking flight from the 
 bounds of practicability, to which our feeble nature 
 is pinned on this earth, into the regions of fancy, 
 had reared a fabric of Utopian mold, which, I ve- 
 rily believe, exceeded in extravagance the works 
 of all the Utopian architects that ever conftrucled 
 caftles in the air. 
 
 Hurried on by this delightful vifion, my perlon 
 paid an involuntary obedience to my mind ; and 
 the quicknefs of my pace increafing with the im- 
 petuolity of my thoughts, I found myfelf, before 
 I was aware of ir, within the chapel-door of the 
 convent of the Carmelites. Obferving my error, 
 1 fuddenly turned about, in order to depart, when 
 a friar, a goodly perlon of a man, elderly, and of 
 a benign aipecl;, called me, and, advancing towards 
 me, afked, in terms of polite nefs. and in the French 
 language, why I was retreating io abruptly — I was 
 confuted : but truth is the enemy before whom 
 confuhon ever flies ; and I told him the whole 
 <ef my miftake, and the thoughts from which they 
 arofe. 
 
112 ADVENTURE AT AUGSBURG H. 
 
 The good father, waving further difcourfe on the 
 fuhjeft, but with a fmile which 1 thought earned a 
 mixture of benevolence for mylelf, and contempt 
 for my ideas, brought me through the church, and 
 fhewed me ail the curiofities of the phce, and par- 
 ticularly, pointed out to me, as a great curiofity, a 
 fun-dial made in the form of a Madonna, the head 
 enriched with rays and liars, ar\d in the hand a 
 Icepire which matked the hours. 
 
 Quitting the chapel, >$nd going towards the re- 
 fectory, the friar flood, and, looking at me with » 
 le of gaiety, (aid, " I have yet fomething to 
 fiiew you, which, while lady Madonna marks the 
 t;ir,e, will help us to pals it ; and, as it will make 
 its way with more force and iubtiety to your fenfes 
 than thofe I have yet (hewn you, will be likely to 
 ice logger retained in remembrance." 
 
 He ipoke a few woids in German, which of 
 •couvfe I did not underftand, to a vifion bearing the 
 flhape of a human creature, who, I underftood, 
 was a lay-brother ; and, turning down a long alley, 
 brought me to his cell, where we were foon fol- 
 lowed by the aforcl'aid lay-brother, with a largQ 
 earthen jug of liquor, two giotfesj and a plale wita 
 fome delicately white bilcuit. 
 
 " You muft know," faid the friar, " that the 
 convent of Carmelites at Augfoutgh has for ages 
 been famed for beer unequalled in any part of the 
 woild ; and I have brought you here to have your 
 opinion — for, being an Englifhman, you muft be 
 a judge, the Bri'uns being lamed for luxury, and a 
 perfect; knowledge of ihejcavoir yiyre." lie pour- 
 ed out, and drank to me : it looked Uker the clear- 
 ed Champaigne than beer — I never tailed any thii^j 
 to equal it ; and he ieemed highly gratified by my 
 expre {lions of praife, which 1 Lavished upon it, as 
 well from politeneis, as regard to tiuth. 
 
 After we had drank a glafs each, {i I have beerv 
 r c EL' £U :<£,." faid the friar, *• on the lingular fi^hi, 
 
ADVENTURE AT ArGSBURGH. 1 1 3 
 
 of fancy that directed your fleps into this convent-^- 
 Your mind was diieafed, my ion ! and a propitious 
 iuperintending Power has guided your fteps to a 
 phyfician, if you will but have the goodnefs to take 
 the medicine he offers. " 
 
 I flared with vifible marks of aftonifhment. 
 
 " You are furprifed," continued he ; {1 but you 
 fhall hear ! When firft you difcloied to me thole 
 fick'.y (lights of your mind, I could on the inftanc 
 have answered them : but you are young — you are 
 an Englifhftjan — two chara&crs impatient of re- 
 proof : the dogmas of a orielr, I thought there- 
 fore, would be fufiicienily difficult to be digefled 
 of themfelvcs, without any additional drftafte caught 
 from the chilling aufterity of a chapel i" 
 
 I looked unintentionally at the earthen jug, and 
 smiled. 
 
 {: It is very true," (aid he. catching my very in- 
 mofl thoughts from the exprefiion of my counte- 
 nance — " it is very true, j good doclrine may, at 
 certain times, and with Certain periens, be more 
 effectually enforced under the cheering influence of 
 the (ocial board, than by the authoritative declama- 
 tion and formal far.cttty of the pulpit ; nor am I, 
 though a Carmelite, one of thoie who pretend to 
 think, that a thing in it lei f good, can be made 
 bad by decent hilarity, and the animation produced 
 bv a moderate and wife ulc of the goods of this 
 earth." 
 
 I was aftonifhed- — 
 
 li You fell into a reverie," continued he, " pro- 
 duced by a contemplation of the happmels of a 
 fociety exiilmg without any difference, and where 
 no human breath Jhould be waded on a figh, no 
 ear tortured with a groan, no tears to trickle, no 
 griefs or calam'tics to wring the heart." 
 
 : - Yes, father !" fa ; d I, catching the idea with 
 my former enthufiafm ; " that would be my wiiu — 
 that my gteatefl, iirit defrre*V 
 
 K 2 
 
l 14 ADVENTURE AT AUGSBURGfl. 
 
 * ; Then feefl: thou," interrupted lie. c; the ex- 
 tent of thy wifh, fuppofe you could realize if, 
 which, thank God! you cannot." 
 
 " What! thank God that I cannot? are the fe 
 your thoughts ?" 
 
 ' : Yes, my Ton ; and ere Madonna marks the 
 progrefs of ten minutes with her fecptre, they will 
 be your's too." 
 
 IS Impoirible !" 
 
 ?' Hear me, my fon ! — Is not death a horrible 
 precipice to the view of human creatures ?" 
 
 " Affuredly," laid 1 — "the mo ft horrible : hu- 
 man laws declare that, by reforting to it for punilh- 
 rr.ent, as the ultimatum of ali terrible inflictions." 
 
 14 When, then," laid he, M covered as we are 
 with mifery, to leave this world is lb infupportable 
 to the human reflection, what muft it be if we had 
 nothing but joy and felicity to tafte of in this life ? 
 Mark mc, child !" faid he, with an animated seal 
 thdt gave an exprefBon to his countenance beyond 
 any thing I had ever ieen : ii the miieries, the cala- 
 mities, the heart-rendfngs, and the tears, which 
 are lo intimately interwoven by the gieat artifl in 
 our natures as not to be ieparated in a fingie in- 
 ilance, are in the Erfi, place our iccurity of a future 
 flate, and in the next place lerve to Hope the way 
 before us, and, by gradual operation, fit our minds 
 for viewing, with iome lori of fortitude, that hi- 
 deous chain that lies between us and that ftate-— 
 death. View thoie miieries, then, as* lpccial acts 
 of mercy and commileration of a beneficent Crea- 
 tor, who, with every calamity, melts away a link 
 of that earthly chain that fetters our withes to this 
 difmal world. Accept his bleilings and his goods, 
 when he fends them, with gratitude and enjoyment : 
 receive his afflictions, too, with as joyous accept- 
 ance, and as hearty gratitude. .Thus, and not other- 
 wife, you will resize all your Utopian flights of 
 acfue, by turning eveij thing lo matter of comfort^ 
 
ADVENTURE AT AUGSBURGII. 1 15 
 
 and living contented with difpenfations which you 
 cannot alter, and, if you could, would moil cer- 
 tainly alter for the woiie." 
 
 I iat abioibed in reflection — The friar, after ferae 
 paufe proceeded — 
 
 4i Errors arifing from virtuous diipefuions and 
 the love of our fellow- creatures, take their com- 
 plexion from their parent motives, and are virtu- 
 ous. Your wifli.es, therefore, my ion ! though er- 
 joneouSj merit reward, and, 1 trull will receive it 
 horn thai Being who lees the iecelles of the heart - r 
 and if the truths I have told you have not failed to 
 make their way to your underftanding, let your 
 adventure of to-day imprels this undeniable maxim 
 on your mind — lo limited is man, fo imperfect in 
 his nature, that the extent of his virtue borders on 
 vice, and the extent of his wiidom on error." 
 
 I thought he was inipired ; and, jull as he got to 
 the laff. period, every organ of mine was opened to 
 take in his words. 
 
 s," 'Tis well, my fon \" fcid he—" I petceive you 
 like my doctiine : then" changing his manner of 
 f peaking, his expreilive countenance the whole time 
 aimed anticipating his whole woids, 4i take fome 
 more of it," (aid he g<nly, pouring out a fieih glats. 
 1 pleaded the fear of inebrieiy — '• Fear not," laid 
 he ; " the beer, of this convent never hurts the in- 
 tellea." 
 
 Our Converfaticn continued till near dinner-time ; 
 for I was fo delighted, I icaiceiy knew how to 
 fnaieh myielf away : fuch a happy melange of piety 
 and pleafantry, grave wiidom and humour. 1 had 
 never met. At length, the convent-beil tolling. I 
 roie : he took me by the hand, and, in a rone of the 
 moft complacent admonition, laid, " Remember, 
 my child ! as long as you live, remember the convent 
 of the Carmelites ; and in the innumerable evils 
 that certainly await you if you are to live long, the 
 words you have heard from old Friar Augustine 
 will afford you comfort.'* 
 
Ii6 ARRIVAL AT THE 
 
 " Father!" re?urned I, M becflured I carry away 
 from you a token that will never fuffer me to forget 
 '"the hofpitality. the advice, or the politenels of the 
 good father Augustine. Poor as I am in natural 
 mcanf, I can make no other return than my good 
 willies, nor leave any impreflion behind me: but as 
 my efteem for you, and perhaps my vanity, make 
 me wifh not to be forgotten, accept this, (a iea! ring, 
 with a device in hair, which I happened to have on 
 my finger; : and whenever you look at it. let it re- 
 mind you of one of thoie, I dare lay innumerable, 
 inlianccs, in which you have Contributed to the 
 happinds and improvement of your fellow-crea- 
 ture?/' 
 
 The good old man was affected, took the rina, 
 
 I attended me to the convent gate, pronouncing 
 
 many blefiings, and charging me to make A'.gib .r.;h 
 
 my way back again to England if pofiible, and take 
 
 o:jc glais more of the convent ale. 
 
 \ 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 L, 
 
 /EAYING Augfburgh, I travelled thro' 
 Bavaria a long way before I 1 cached the Tyrol 
 Countiy, of the natural beauty of winch I had heard 
 much, and which I therefore entered with great 
 expectations of that fublime grar. fication the beau- 
 ties of nature never fad to afford me. I was not 
 dilappo:nt-:d ; indeed, my warmed expectations 
 were exceeded. 
 
 i i fir ft thing that (hikes a traveller from Bava- 
 ria, on entering it. Is the Fort of Cherink, built ; - 
 two inacceiiible rock? winch feparate T I 
 frx n me b in . So ampl 
 
 nature provided Tor the iecurity of this c 
 
TYROL COUNTRY. 1 1 J 
 
 againft the incurfion of an enemy, that there is not 
 a pafs which leads to it that is no' through iome 
 narrow defile between mountains almofr. inaccr fii- 
 ble ; and on the rocks and brows of thole paries, 
 the emperor has conftru&ed forts and citadels, (a 
 advantageoufly placed, that they command all the 
 valleys and avenues beneath. 
 
 After a variety of windings and turnings through 
 mountains of ftupendous 'height and awful afpett, I 
 began to delcend, and entered the moft delightful 
 valley I had ever beheld — deep, long, and above a 
 mile in breadth — furrounded with enormous piles 
 of mountains, and diverhiied with the alternate 
 beauties of nature and cultivation, fo as to form an 
 union rarely to be met with, and delight at once the 
 eye of the fatmer, and the fancy of him that has a 
 true tafte for rural wildneis. From the heights in 
 deicending, the whole appeared in all its glory ; 
 the beautiful river Inn gliding aiong through it 
 Jongitudinally, its banks (ludded with the mo ft ro- 
 mantic little villages, while a number of inferior 
 ftreams were feen winding in different courfes, and 
 haftenicg to pour their tribute into its bolom. 
 
 Here I felt my heart overwhelmed with lenlations 
 of tranfport, which all the works of art could never 
 infpire : here nature rufhed irrefiftibly upon my 
 lenies, and, making them captive, exacted their ac- 
 knowledgement of her fupremacy : here vanity, 
 ambition, luff, of fame and power, and all the tin 
 ielled, gaudy frippery to which habit and worldly 
 euftom enflave the mind, retired, to make way for 
 fentiments of harmony, purity, fimphcity, and truth : 
 here Providence leemed to (peak in language moll 
 perluafive, " Come filly man, leave the wild tumult, 
 the encilels fituggle, the glittering follies, the fai 
 and Ipurious pleaiuies which artifice creates, to fe- 
 duce you from the true — dwell here, and in the lap- 
 of natute ftudy me :" Here, oh! here, exclaimed I, 
 in a aanJport which bereft me, for the time, of 
 
2 1 3 ARRIVAL AT THE 
 
 every other confideration. here will I dwell forever. 
 The charm was too finely fpun, to withstand the 
 hard tugs of facl ; and all its precious delufions va- 
 nifhed before a heft of gloomy truths — deranged 
 affairs — family far off, with the diftance daily increa- 
 sing — the hazards and the hardfhips of a long untried 
 journey — and the Eaft Indies, with all its hsrrors, 
 in the rear. I hung my head in for row ; and, of- 
 fering up a prayer to proteel my family, ftrengthen 
 my lei f, and bring us once more together in fome 
 fpot heavenly as that 1 pa (Ted through, was pro- 
 ceeding on in a {late of dejection proportionate to 
 my previous traniports, when I was routed by my 
 poflillion, who, pointing to a very high, fteep 
 rock, dciired me to take notice of it. I did lb ; 
 but feeing nothing very remarkable in its appear- 
 ance, afked bim what he meant by directing my at- 
 tention to it — He anfwered me in the following 
 manner, which, from the lingularity of the narra- 
 tive, and his ftiange mode of telling it, I think it 
 would injure to take out of his own words: I will, 
 therefore, endeavour, as well as I can. to give you 
 a literal transition of it ; and, indeed, the im- 
 preflion it made on my memory was fuch, that, I 
 apprehend, I fhall not materially differ from his 
 words : 
 
 " You muff know, Sir, (for every one in the 
 world knows.it), that all thefe mountains around us, 
 are the abodes of good and evil fpirits, or genii— , 
 the latter of whom are continually doing eveiy ma- 
 licious thing they can devile, to injure the people 
 of the country, — fuch as leading them affray — 
 fmothering them in the fnow — killing the cattle by 
 throwing them down precipices — nay, when they 
 can do no worle, drying up ihe milk in the udders 
 of the goats — 3nd, iomeiimes, putting between 
 young men and their Ivveet-hearts, and flopping 
 their marriage. Ten thouiand curies light upon 
 them! 1 ffiould have been married two years ago^ 
 
TYROL COUNTRY. 119 
 
 end had two children to-day, but for their fchemes. 
 In fhort, Sir, if it were not for the others — the 
 good on j s — who are always employed (and the 
 bi: fled Virgin knows they have enough on their 
 hands) in preventing the mifchiefs of thole devils, 
 the whole place would be deftioyed, and the coun- 
 try left without a living thing, man or goat !" 
 
 Here I could not, for the life of me, retain my 
 gravity any longer, but burft, in fpite of me, into 
 an immoderate fit of laughter, which fo diiconcert- 
 ed and offended him, that he lullenly refuted to 
 proceed with the (lory and farther, but continued 
 maiking his forehead (his hat off) with a thouiand 
 erodes, uttering pious ejaculations, looking at me 
 with a mixture of terror, diftruft, and admiration 
 and every now and then glancing his eye cfkance 
 toward the hills, as if fearful of a defcent from the 
 evil (pints. 
 
 My curiofity was awakened by the very extraor- 
 dinary commencement of his narrative ; and I de- 
 termined, if pofftble., to hear it out : io, afluring 
 him that I meant nothing either of flight or wick- 
 nefs by my laughter — that I had too ferious ideas of 
 fuch things to treat them with levity---and. what 
 was more convincing logic with him, promifing to 
 reward him for it-— he proceeded with his (lory as 
 follows : 
 
 " Well, Sir, you fay you were not fporting with 
 thofe fpirits— and fortunate it is for you : at all 
 events, Saint John of God be our guide, and 
 bring us fafe to lnnlpruck. J"A fo the great 
 Maximilian was wont to laugh at them; and 
 you fhall hear how he was pumlhed for it- -and 
 that was the flory I was about to tell you. The 
 Emperor Ma ximili an, that glory of the world, 
 (he is now in the lap of the bl? flVd Virgin in Pa- 
 radife), or.ee on a time, before he was emperor, 
 that is to fav, when he was archduke, was al- 
 ways laughing at the country people's fears of 
 
 
120 ' ARRIVAL AT THE, &c. 
 
 thofe fpi.its — and an old father of the church 
 forewarned him to beware, left he fhould luffer 
 for his rafhnels : fo one day he went out hunting, 
 and at the foot of tn3t mountain a mod beautiful 
 chamois darted before- him .; he fhot at it, and 
 milled it — (the fir ft fhot he had m-ffed for ma- 
 ny years, which you know was warning enough 
 to him)— however, he followed, (hooting at and 
 miffing it, the animal ftanriing every now and 
 then till he came up within fr.ot of it : thus 
 he continued till near night, when the goat 
 disappeared of a fudden, and he found himlelf 
 buried, as it were in the bowels of the mountain : 
 he endeavoured to find his way out, but in vain ; 
 eveiy ftep he took led him moie aftrav, and he was 
 for two days wandering about, Christ lave us I 
 in the frightful holfcws of thole mountains, living 
 all the time on wild berries: on the lecond night 
 be bethought jhimfelf of his want of faith, and of 
 the faying of olJ Father Jerome : and he fell on 
 his knees, and wept and prayed all night ; and the 
 Virgin heard his prayers, he being a good man, 
 and, above all, an emperor— God bleis you and 
 me! we fhould have peiifhed--- In the morning a 
 beautiful young man, dieffed in a pealant's hab;r, 
 came up to him, gave him vi&uaU and wine, and 
 defired him to follow him, which he did, you may 
 be lure, joyfully — but, On bltfud Viigin ! think 
 what his iurprife miaft have been, when, getting 
 again into the plain out of the mountain, the 
 young man diiappeared and vamfhed ail of a fud- 
 den. juft at the foot of that deep rock which I 
 fhewed you, and which ever fiucc goes by the 
 name of the emperor's rock---You lee what a dan- 
 gerous place it is, and what dangeious fpirits they 
 muft be that would not fpare even the holy Roman 
 emperor. In my mind, the belt way is to lay no- 
 thing againll thole things, as iome faithless people 
 do, and to wotfbip the Virgin ;>nd keep a good con- 
 science, and then one will have. the lets to fear." 
 
REFLECTIONS ON THE, &c, 121 
 
 By the time he had ended his narrative, we were 
 in light of Innfpruck, when I annoyed and teiri- 
 £ei him afrefh, by laughing immoderately at the 
 end of his ftovy — but asoned in iomc mcalure for 
 it, by giving him half a flotin. 
 
 On inquiring at Innfpruck, I found that Maxi- 
 milian nad actually loft his way in the mountain, 
 and had been conducted out of it by a peafant, who 
 left him fuddenly ; the reft was an exaggerated ir.:- 
 duionary tale, irUing from the •fuperftiiious fears of 
 the country people. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 IN all nations under Heaven, and at all 
 
 times (ince the creation there have been men form- 
 ed to make a noile in the world — to increaie or 
 impede, to direft or d;fturb, the calm, fober pro- 
 gress of focial life — and, in the eagernefs and vio- 
 lence of their efforts to reach the goal of fuperio- 
 rity, oveiturn or thruft out of their ordinary path 
 the reft of mankind, till either they provoke again ft 
 them a general conlpiracy of their fellow-creatures,* 
 or, till reaching the point of their purfuit, they 
 become elevated obje&s of homage and admiration. 
 Such men are generally compofed of great materials 
 for mifchief: — having ftrong natural talents and 
 violent ungovernable fpirits ; according to the di- 
 rection thefe get, they are harmlefs or mi chievous 
 — but, like morbid matter in the animal {yftem, if 
 not let loofe by iome channel 01 other, they never 
 fail to diftutb the whole economy of the body they 
 belong to, and produce fatal conlequences to it and 
 to therr. r elves : Colonial poil\ fhons have therefore, 
 in force views, been of ufe (as America formerly to 
 
 L 
 
122 REFLECTIONS ON THE 
 
 England) to draw off thofe dangerous fpirits, who, 
 though they are in times of peace belter at a clif- 
 tancc, in times of war are found to be the tougheft 
 finews of a nation. 
 
 The country of Tyrol, fuch as I have defcribed 
 it, formed by nature for the refidence of the Syl- 
 van deities, rich in the produces of the earth, the 
 people contented and happy, and the whole the 
 region of peace ; manufactures, the firfl root of low 
 vices, and commerce, the great inftigator or war, 
 have fcarcely been able to fet their feet there : hence 
 it happens, that there is no channel through which 
 thofe exuberant fpirits I have alluded to can take 
 their courfe, or expand their force. Home, theie- 
 fore, is no place for thofe of the Tyroleic, who are 
 curled or bleiTed (call it which you pleaie) with 
 thole very combuftible qualities; and they are 
 obliged to roam abroad in feaich of opportunities 
 of diftinguifhing themfelves, giving vent to their 
 fpirits, and manifefting their talents. They are 
 found, therefore, fcattered all over the Continent : 
 and as it rarely happens that opportunities occur in 
 life of frgnalifing iuch talents in a dignified line, 
 rather than be idle they do what they can, and 
 apply to chicaneiy as a wide and appropriate field 
 for their genius and vigour to woik on — the emi- 
 giant Tyrolefe are, therefore, by moft nations of 
 the continent, reckoned among the mod expert 
 and acccmplifned (harpers in the world — the peo- 
 ple, however, who remain at home, are of a dif- 
 ferent character — they are, generally fpeaking. tall, 
 robufl, and vigorous; the women ftrong and very 
 fair; and both lexes exhibit a very pleafir.g mixture 
 of German phlegm and Italian fprightlmels ; or, 
 to lpeak more properly, they are a meaR between 
 thofe two extremes. 
 
 Innfpruck, though a fmall city, is handfome and 
 agreeable, (landing in a very beautiful valley, iur- 
 rounded with mountains, which, while their lower 
 
TYROLESE. 123 
 
 ports are well cultivated, are capped on the tops 
 witri perennial [now. The caRle formerly the reli- 
 4ence of the Auftrian princes is (lately arid magni- 
 ficent, adorned within with fine paintings, and 
 decorated without by natutal and artificial foun- 
 ta.^s, ftatues, pleafant gardens, groves, walks, and 
 coveied galleries, leading to five different churches. 
 
 Apropos — Let me not forget the churches ! In a 
 chapel of the Francifcan church, there is an image 
 of the Virgin Mary as big as the life, of folid 
 Giver, with many other images of faints of the 
 larne metal. If icme of thole filver deities were 
 transfeued to Paris. 1 fear their divinity would not 
 iave them from the hands of the faci ; :<"^ious Con- 
 vention. One, thijjg, however, is uui woti-h the 
 attention of travellers, pariicuiaily thefe who Willi 
 to wipe away the fins of a deceafed friend, and get 
 them a direft paifport to happinels — This Erancif. 
 can church is held to be one of the mod iacred and 
 venerable in the world, on account of the indul- 
 gences granted to it by feveral popes ; fo that one 
 fingle mals laid in it, is declared to be fufficient to 
 deliver a foul from the pains of purgatory. When 
 we confider the great and important extent of their 
 power in that refpect., we cannot wonder if they 
 had all the faints in the calendar, and the Virgin 
 Mary to boot, in folid hiver, even of the f:ze of 
 the Coloflus at Rhodes. 
 
 Hall, the fecond city in Tyrol, Hes one league 
 from Innfpruck : it is famous for its lalt.-works, 
 and for a mint and filver mines, in which leven 
 thoufand men, women, and children are conflantly 
 employed. 
 
 At a royal palace and caflle called Ombras. lying 
 at equal difhnce from Innipruck and Hall, there 
 is an arfenal, famous for a prodigious collection of 
 curiofities, fuch as medals, precious Hones, fuits of 
 armour, and flatues of feveral princes on horfeback, 
 in their old rich fighlirg accoutrements 5 beftdes 
 
i 24 REFLECTIONS ON THE 
 
 great variety of military fpoils and trophies taken 
 by the Houle of Auftna ; in particular, a ftatue of 
 Francis the Fiift and his horfe, juft as they were 
 !;>ken at the battle of Pavia, and two others of 
 Tutkiih bafhaws, w;-h the coftiy habits and appoint- 
 with which they were taken, embellifhed 
 th gold, filver, and precious ftones. But, above 
 aril their curiohties, the meft extraordinarv is an o<ik 
 mc he body of a deer: this laft, however 
 
 tmaCcotmtabfce, is f aft ; arid equals, I thirk, any of 
 the wonders in the metarnorphotes of Ovid. 
 
 Leaving Innlpruck, I proceeded on my journey, 
 
 d loon entered into the mountains, which arc 
 
 there of a terrible height— -I was the beft part of a 
 
 afcending them : as I got near the top, I wag 
 
 , by my diivcr, the [pot where Ferdinand, 
 
 kng of Hungary, and the Emperor Charles tne 
 
 Fifth, met, when he returned fiom Africa, in the- 
 
 year 1510. It is ma'ked with an inlcriptiun to 
 
 that eiicft, arid his grown into a little village, 
 
 which, from that circumitance, beats the name of 
 
 the S dutat on. 
 
 this mountain, called Brerr.enberg (or 
 covered with (now tor nine 
 yew, it is inhabited to the ve;y top,, 
 and produces eorh and hay in abundar.ee ; at tne 
 I part there is a p: it-houe. a tavern, and a 
 5 where the traveller is accommodated with, 
 f._ih horfes, provifion.*, and, if he chooies, a mouth- 
 ful of • • s— 1 availed myielf of the two hid ;. 
 bur the ratter being not altogether in my way, I 
 te:i:::^ it, (br ivhieh I could perceive that I was,, 
 by every mouth and eye in the place, coniigned to 
 perdition as a heretic. 
 
 Juft at this (pot there is a fpring of water which 
 falls upon a rock, _and divides into two currents, 
 which, at a very (mall diftance, a flu me the appear- 
 ance, and, in (n£i t the magnitude too, of very large 
 rivers. The mountain is iomettmes difEcu-k to pa'^,. 
 
TYROLESE. 125 
 
 fometimes abfolutely impracticable— I was fortunate, 
 however, in this rclpeci; ; for I got over it without 
 any very extraordinary delay, and on my way was 
 legaled with the moll delicious venifon that I have 
 ever tailed in my life ; it was faid to be the flefh of 
 a kind of goat. 
 
 Although it is but thirty-five miles from Inn- 
 fpruck to Brifen, it was late when I reached the 
 latter ; and as it contained nothing worth either the 
 trouble or delay attending the learch of it, I fet oat 
 the next morning, and, travelling with high moun- 
 tains on one fide, and a river all along upon the 
 other, arrived at a town called Boliano, in the 
 biihopric of Trent. The country all along was 
 thickly inhabited, and the mountains perfectly cul- 
 tivated and manured even to their highell tops. 
 On entering the valley of Bolfano, I found the air 
 becoming obviouily tweet, delightful, and tempe- 
 rate ; the vineyards, and all the trees and fhrubs, 
 olives, mulberries, willows, and ro!@s, &c. of all 
 the naoft lively green, and every thing marking the 
 moll luxuriant vegetation. 
 
 Bolfano is a fmall, but extremely neat and plea- 
 fant town — but nothing 1 law about it pleafed me 
 fo much as their vineyards, which are planted in 
 long terraces along the fides of the hills, and are 
 formed into the moll beaatiful arbours, one row 
 above another. 
 
 From Bolfano to Trent, is fifty-one miles, a good 
 day's journey : almofl the whole of it lies through 
 the valley of Bollano, a mod fruitful and pleafant 
 — indeed, delightful road, which made the day's 
 journey appear to me much fhorter than it really 
 was. 
 
 Perhaps no part of the habitable globe is, within 
 the lame comparatively fmall compafs of earth, (o 
 wonderfully diverfified by the hand of natuie in all 
 her extremes, as ihat through which I have juft 
 carried you. There, under almofl the fame glance 
 
 L 2 
 
126 BISHOPRIC OF 
 
 of the eye, were to be feen the ftupendous, the 
 rugged, the favage, and the inacceflible — the mild, 
 the fruitful, and the cultivated. Here, the moun- 
 tain capped with perpetual fnow, gradually falling 
 in blended gradations of fhade, far beyond the reach 
 of the artift's pencil, into the green luxuriant val- 
 ley ; and there, the vineyard, the olivary, and the 
 rich corn-field, burfting at once from rugged rocks 
 and inacceflible faftneffes : the churlifh alpeft of 
 the tyrant winter for ever prowling on the moun- 
 tain's head above — perpetual fpring ftniling with all 
 her faicinating charms in the plains below. Such, 
 fcenes as thefe would baffle all efforts of the poet'* 
 pen or painter's pencil : to be conceived, they 
 muft be ieen. I fhall therefore cloie my account of 
 them with a ftrong recommendation to you,, that 
 whenever you travel for improvement, you go 
 through the Country of Tyrol, and there learn the 
 great and marvellous working of nature 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 P; 
 
 ERHAPS the learned unwife men of the 
 world, who ipend their lives poring after impoflV- 
 bilities, have never met with a more copious lub- 
 j ft of puzzle-pated enjoyment than the derivation 
 of the names of places. In all dilputed cafes on 
 this fubjeft, the utmoft within human reach is con- 
 jecture ; but the joke of it is, that, fortunately for 
 mankind, the certainty of it would not be of a 
 {ingle button advantage to them, even if it could 
 be acquired by their fearch. Doctor Goldsmith, 
 in his Citizen of the World, fias thrown this matter 
 into high lid.cule; and I recommend it to your 
 perufalj led this fhadow of literature ftiould one 
 
TRENT DESCRIBED. 127 
 
 day wheedle you from more refpe£table purfuits. 
 Trent has afforded vaft exercife to book-worm con- 
 jectures in this way ; for, while lome pronounce it 
 to be deiived from Tridentum, and for this pur*- 
 pofe will have it that Neptune was worfnipped 
 there, though fo far from the lea — others claim the 
 difcovcry of its derivation from Tribus Torren- 
 tibus, or three dreams which run there. Now, as 
 to the firff, exclufive of forcing Neptune all the 
 way from the Gulph of Venice to their temples, 
 I cannot find any fuch fimilarity in the found of 
 Trent and Trident to warrant the inference ; and 
 as to the Tribus Torrentibus, they might as well 
 jay that a primmer or hornbook was found there, 
 and that thence it was derived from the alphabet, 
 iince the fame analogy fubfifled between them, 
 namely, that the letters t,*,e,n,t are to be found 
 in both. But, in the name of God, what fignifies 
 what it was called after ? Its name is Trent ; and 
 if it had been Putney, or John o' Groat's houfe, 
 the town would be neither the better nor the worfe, 
 nor the treafures of literature iuffer any defalcation 
 from the difference. 
 
 The bifhopric of Trent is about fixty nr.les long, 
 and forty broad — fertile, and abundant in wine, oil, 
 fruit, and paflure — and pleafant, the beautiful river 
 Adige meandering through the whole of it from 
 noith to fouth. The inhabitants are bigoted Ro- 
 man Catholics — you will the lefs^ wonder, then, 
 that the bifhop fhouid have fo extenftve a princi- 
 pality, and an annual revenue of forty thouiand 
 crowns. 
 
 As I receded from Germany, and advanced to- 
 wards Italy, 1 found the air. the perfons, and the 
 manners of the people, to difplay a very great dif- 
 ference, and to referable thofe of the Italians more 
 than thole of the Germans. Though Popifh big- 
 otry be pretty (Irong in many parts of Germany, 
 it no where there affumes the gloomy, detcftable 
 afpeft that it does in Italy. 
 
128 BISHOPRIC OF 
 
 And now, fince I have happened to mention the 
 characters of thele two peopie, I may as well, once 
 for all, more particulaily as we aie got to the verge 
 of both, give you them in full ; in both which I 
 am warranted in laying, that all who know the two 
 will agree with me. 
 
 reihaps contiaft was never more perfectly exem- 
 plified than in a comparifon between the Germans 
 and Italians ; and that contraft ftrikes more forcibly 
 and fuodenly in palling from one countiy to the 
 other, than it would in io fhort a Ipacc beiween 
 any two people exifling. The Italians, jealous, 
 revengeful, treacherous, diflembiing, lervi'ie, vici- 
 ous, fanguinary, idle, 3nd lenfual. The Germans, 
 on the contrary, open, good-natured, free from 
 malice and iubrlety, laborious, fincere, honeft, and 
 hoipitable — and, with thole valuable qualities, pro- 
 perly complaifanr. So happy is the chai^eler of 
 this people, that to be German-hearted has long 
 been a phrafe fignifying an honeft man who hated 
 diOimulation : and their holpitaliiy was, even in 
 the davs of Tulius C^isar, rcmaikable : for we 
 icarn from him, that thc*r houfes woe open to all 
 roen — that they thought it mjuflice to affront a 
 traveller, and made it an article of their religion to 
 proutt thole who came under their roof. D d not 
 intemperance in eating and drinking detratt from 
 their virtues, no people on earth would bear com- 
 parifon with them for intrinhc worth, and particu- 
 larly for integrity in dealing. 
 
 The^city of Trent, though not very large in cir- 
 cumference, is populous. The high mountains 
 which lurround it, iubject it to all tne inconveni- 
 ences of heat and cold — rendering the air excefTive- 
 }y hot in hummer, and extremely cold in winU . ; 
 befides which, they expole the town to dreadful 
 inundations — the torrents that dece nd from the 
 mountains being iomstimes fo im; et^aus as to roll 
 large pieces of lock with them into ir. a. id having 
 feverai times laiu the whole place wafte. 
 
TRENT DESCRIBED. 129 
 
 There are in Trent many (lately palaces, church- 
 es, and religious houfes. The only one, however, 
 that I will particularize, is that of Saint Mary 
 Major, noted for a prodigious large organ, which 
 can be made to counterfeit all (oris of mufical in- 
 ftruments, together with the finging of birds, the 
 cries of feveral beads, and the iounds of drums 
 and trumpets, fo exactly, that it is difficult to dif- 
 tinguifh between the imitation and the reality. To 
 what an end fuch an inflrument fhould be let up 
 in a place of worfliip, 1 am at a lois to divine, un- 
 lefs it be to add to the rich, uielefs lumber that fills 
 all thofe of Popifh countries. 
 
 But that which diftinguifhes this church Mill fur- 
 ther, is, that it is the place where jthe famous Coun- 
 cil of Trent was held, concerning the Reformation, 
 at which four thouland perlonsofa public chaiacVr, 
 laymen and ccclefiaftic*, aflifted. This Council iat 
 eighteen years before it did any thing ; but at la it 
 the Pope contrived to get the aicendant ; and, after 
 debating and deliberating fo long, not only the Pro- 
 teiLnts, but even the German and French naiions, 
 lefufed to receive its decrees. Certain of the cler- 
 gy, finding the aicendancy that the negotiation of 
 the Pope was getting in this council, laid that the 
 Holy Ghoft had been fent there from Rome in a 
 doakbag ! 
 
 Trent once boafted a curiofity — which indeed 
 ftill remains, though out of uie— -that, I think, 
 would be found Serviceable in rnoft towns in Chrif- 
 tendom, and ellewhere too, and particularly at 
 Bath, and iuch places. It was a tower on the river 
 Adige, into which the ftream was conduced, for 
 the purpofe of drowning luch of the clergy as werfe 
 convicted of having been too familiar with their 
 neighbours' wives and daughters' 
 
 The people of Trent ipeak promifcoufly, andin- 
 diiferentiy, both the German and Italian languages ; 
 but wiiether well or not, I was not adept enough 
 to di {cover. 
 
ItO BISHOPRIC or 
 
 J 
 
 My next (lage was Badano, a town in the terri- 
 tory of Viacenza in Italy, fuuated at the end of a 
 very long norrcw valley. It is watered by the river 
 Brenia, which wafhes that very rich, fertile, lerene, 
 healrhy, and plentiful diftrici of Italy, lo celebrated 
 for its admirable wines, as well as for its fine pa{- 
 ture-grounds, rich corn-ficldb, and prodigious abun- 
 dar.ee of g<ime, cattle, and mniberi v-i iee:> ; from all 
 which it is called the Garden and Shambles ot Ve- 
 nice. 
 
 The next dav I arrived at an eaily hour at Ve- 
 nice, the acicription of which I fhall not injure by 
 commencing *t with the mutilated fragment of a 
 letter, and ihall therefore poltpone it to my next. 
 
 Thus, rny dear Frederick, have I, in order to 
 pteiei ve the unity and order of my prrgiefs, brought 
 yoa through Germany with a precile regularity, that, 
 if I was not wifhing for your improvement, might 
 be difpenfed with — yet have left much, very much 
 indeed, untouched, in the confidence that you will 
 younelf have the induftry to find it out. 
 
 I confefs, my dear boy, that 1 have often, as I 
 wrote, detected myielf in excurfions from the road 
 into moral reflection — but I could not ftop : your 
 improvement was my object in undertaking the bu- 
 fineis j and I could not refrain from endeavouring to 
 inculcate fuch leffons as the progrefs of the work 
 luggefted, and as imprelled my mind with a con- 
 viction of their truth and utility. 
 
 Vou mud have obierved, that there are two to- 
 pics on which I dwell very much — one, Liberty 
 ——the other, an abhorence of bigotry and fupeiiti- 
 tion. But, before I proceed further, 1 muit call 
 to your remembrance what I have often la:d, that 
 by liberty I do not mean that which lome people 
 now give that name to---nor do I mean religion 
 when I lpe^k of bigotry ; for true liberty is (till 
 more incompatible with anarchy than with dei^ol- 
 
DESC1PTION OF VENICE. 131 
 
 *fm, and fuperftition is the greateft enemy of reli» 
 gion. Let the fiift obje£t of your heart and loul be 
 true morality—the next, rational liberty : but re- 
 member, that the one is not to be found indepen- 
 dent of religion, nor the other over to be enjoyed 
 but under the retraining hands of wholefome laws 
 and good government— fuch as England now boafts. 
 In theie times, when human opinion is actually 
 polled on the two extremes of political judgment, 
 J know, that to fpeak. rationally, is to incur the 
 cenfure of both, or to be, as Pope fomewhere fays, 
 •* by tories called a whig, by whigs a toiy :" but I 
 care not — I Ipeak my opinion with the fair face 
 of independence ; nor would leruple to tell the 
 King of Prussia my hatred of celpotifm, or the 
 Convention of France my abhorrence of anarchy-— 
 between bo*h of which the true and genuine point 
 of liberty lies; and England, thank God] draws 
 the, line* 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 A: 
 
 .S I approached Venice, I was much 
 delighted with its appe .ranee. Its ftately fteeples 
 and noble buildings ieemed a^ if jift emerging from 
 the iea, and floating on the furface of it ; a id it 
 required no great flretch of fancy to imagine, that 
 it undulated with the agitated waves of its parent 
 the Adiiatic. On all the furrounding coafb. na- 
 ture and ait feemed to have vied with c.Tch other in 
 pouring the greateft profufiun of their gif s, while 
 thou lands of mails, icattered like for^its over the 
 furrounding bays, denoted that Venice, not cort* 
 tent with her own, fhared in the wealth and luxu- 
 ries of oiher climes. 
 
132 DESCRIPTION OF VENICE. 
 
 It is indeed difficult to conceive a more extraor- 
 dinary and pleafing appearance than this city makes 
 at a diflance, whether you approach it from the lea 
 or irom the continent. Built not like towns in 
 Holland, where immenfe moles and walls pufh the 
 iea forward, and encroach on his dominion, it 
 (lands on piles ere£led in the lea ; and the founda- 
 tions of the houfes almofl touching the water, gives 
 it the appeatance of floating on its furface. The 
 fleeples are feen at fea at the diftance of thirty miles ; 
 and the prolpe£l becomes more beautiful the nearer 
 it is appioached — preienting in many views the ap- 
 pearance of floating iflands. 
 
 To ere£l a city thus upon the water, while (o 
 many thouiands of acres (land unoccupied, at ftrft 
 irght fcems extraordinary — but all thofe great and 
 flrange deviations from the ordinary path pre Tented 
 by nature, have their fource in neceflity : and it is 
 not till long after the nect fiity has been fir ft lament- 
 ed, and afterwards obviated, that experience comes 
 into aid, and demoftrates, that, from her, lecurity 
 and utility have often aiiien. Thus it is with Ve- 
 nice, who, notified by her local lituation (the eiToit 
 of nccelTi:yj, fi:s iecuie, and bids defiance to the 
 wot Id. 
 
 The place where Venice now {lands, is fuppofed 
 to havr been formerly a matfhy gtound, on which 
 the Adriatic Sea had gradually encroached, leaving 
 the more elevated parts of it above water, and there- 
 by forming a vaft number of little iflands, hence 
 called Lagunes : on thofe the (ifhermen of the 
 neighbouring fhores bult their huts ; and when 
 Italy was invaded by the Goths under Alaric, 
 and afterwards by that barbarous race the Huns, un- 
 der Attila, both of whom {pread ruin and def- 
 lation wherever they came, vafk numbers of pcot le 
 from the circumjacent fhores of the Adriatic, par- 
 ticularly fiom Padua and Aqudeia, fled hither, and 
 brought alot.g v, iui them immenle wealth. Here 
 
DESCRIPTION OF VENICE. 133 
 
 they laid the firft foundations on feventy-two dif- 
 tinft little iflands, and certainly with huts, of a 
 city which afterwards flood almoll foremoft in the 
 naval and commercial world : as thofe iflands were 
 built upon, and became over-people, they gradually 
 pufhed forward their piles, and built upon therrt 
 aga n, till the whole became one vaft city, extend- 
 ing to many more of thole iflands beyond the ori- 
 ginal leventy-two. 
 
 As it was indebted in a great meafure, for its rife 
 and importance to the commerce of the Eaft, which 
 then was carried on by way of the Red Sea and 
 Alexandria, when the palT-jge by the Cape of Good 
 Hope was dilcovered, that trade declined and Ve- 
 nice declined gradually along with it. 
 
 It is amazing, what an extent of territory and 
 accumulation of power the Venetians once poll f- 
 fed. Befides their preient poffisflions, which com- 
 prehend the territories of Padua and Verona, the 
 Vmcentine, the Breicians, the Bergamales, the 
 Crernaico, the Polefm of Rovigo, Marca Trevi- 
 giana, the Patria del Friuii, and Iftria, they had 
 under their dominion the iflands of Rhodes, Scio, 
 Samos, Mytilene, Andios, Candia, the Motea, 
 and the cities of Gallipoli and Thedilonica : b. fides 
 which, theyj in conjunction with France, took. 
 Conftantinopie, and remained for feme time mailers 
 of that part of the Empire ; and difputed the do- 
 minion of Sclavonia, Croatia, Moriachia aild Dal- 
 ixialia, with the Kings of Hungary, atui contended 
 with the Genoefe fo* the empire of the lea : but of 
 a gieat part of theie, and their other conquefts, 
 have iince been (tripped, almoll entirely, by 
 the Turks. 
 
 As to the government of Venice, I fhall not 
 enter into any particulars of its hiflovy — It is call- 
 ed a republic, and wag ence a democracy. The 
 name remains, while that which gave it is g 
 It is, certainly, now a downright anflocracy — the 
 
 M 
 
134 DESCRIPTION OF VENICE. 
 
 privilege of fitting in the great Council being 
 confined to the nobility ; and the doge, under the 
 name of head, being no rr.ore than a gaudy flave, 
 loaded with fetters : yet, (uch is the idle iondnefs 
 of man for fuperficial pomp, that this office is 
 lought after with avidity ; for though his power 
 be Imail, his ftate is very Iplendid. Hence it is 
 faic), that the doge of Venice is a king in his robes, 
 a fen?tor in council, a priloner in the city, and a 
 private man out of it ; and what is more extraordi- 
 nary, is, that though he may be depofed, he cannot 
 refign — nor even decline the office, if he be once 
 cholen, without expofing himfelf to banifhment, 
 and his effects to confifcation. 
 
 The efUb .ihed religion of this ftate is the Ro- 
 man Catholic ; but the Venetians are not bigots, 
 and reject the iupremacy of the Pope. Jews, Ar- 
 menians, Greeks, and Pioteftants, are allowed the 
 exercife of their religion there : and, provided they 
 do not intermeddle with ftate affairs, of which they 
 are extremely jealous, even their priefts, monks, 
 and nuns, may take almcft any liberties they pleafe 
 —a privilege that you may be affured is not neglect- 
 ed by any of them. 
 
 As few places have excited greater admiration 
 and attention than Venice, fo none have been more 
 copioufly defcribedby travellers, every one of whom 
 may, when he returns to his native country, give 
 a very accurate account of the public buildings, 
 curiofities, paintings, &c. by only trarflating the 
 book given to him by his valet de place, or cice- 
 rone, on his arrival there — It is certain, Venice 
 abounds with all thofe, particularly paintings ; but 
 1 had not the time minutely to inveftigate ; nor 
 fhould I have the inclination, if 1 did, to defcnbe 
 fuch things: they are open to you in many well 
 written \ Glumes, which I recommend to your pe- 
 iinual. S;ch things, however, as flrike me for 
 their novelty, or difference from thole in other 
 
DESCRIPTION OF VENICE. 135 
 
 places, I will, as well as I can rccollecl them, give 
 you ?n idea of. 
 
 To their local filiation they own their fecurity — 
 feparated from terra Jtrrna by a body of water of 
 five miles in breadth, too deep to be forded, and 
 too (hallow for ve{T:ds of force to pals ; and on the 
 other Tides, by fcaitered (hallows, the channels be- 
 tween which arc marked out by fUkes, whrch, on 
 the appearance of an enemy, they can take aw..y ; 
 they bid defiance to hoftile army or navy, and have 
 not been reduced to the neceflity to erecting walls 
 or fortifications for their defence. 
 
 The firft peculiarity that iinkes me, as ariftng 
 immediately f;otn their living, I miy fay, in tlve 
 lea, is the total exclufion of all lort of carnages ; 
 for thofe flreets that are on firm ground are ex- 
 tremely narrow and crooked ; and on moft of the 
 canals, fo far from having a quay on either fide to 
 walk on, the water comes up to the doors of the 
 houfes ; fo that walking is but little known, for 
 they get into a boat off their threfhold, and their 
 nift flop out of it again is, ten to one, on the 
 threfhold of another. This circumftar.ee, thous.h 
 in fome re f peels it has its uies, is, in others, ex- 
 tremely dilagreeable, as weil as injurious ; for-, 
 though thole who have occafion to labour have u 
 fufficiency of exercife, thofe whole condition ex- 
 empts them from labour, and who, therefore, m 
 all other countries, reiort to artificial labour (exer- 
 ciie) for the promotion of health, are here entirely 
 cut off from all iuch means of it as we praclile, 
 having neither hunting, {hooting, riding, bowling, 
 &c. &c. nor can they have them, unlels they go to 
 the Continent for them* The chief amafements of 
 the Venetians aie referved for the carnival time, 
 which commences about a week after Chriftmas, 
 and which, therefore, I could not fee ; but, from 
 the concunent teft'.mony of all travellers and the 
 people ihemlelves, as well as from the evidence of 
 
l$6 DESCRIPTION OF VENICE. 
 
 try own obfervation on the manners of the people, 
 I am well warranted in laying, ate feflivals of de- 
 bauchery, riot, and licentiouinel.«. This is a fub- 
 ject on which I am, neverthelels, diipoied to be- 
 lieve, that more has been laid than truth will bear 
 out — yet, a bare flatement of the truth, would, I 
 fear, bear hard enough upon the moral chaiatter, oc 
 at Icaft ihe piety, of the Venetians. 
 
 That maiquerades are the very worft fchools of 
 vice, the private anecdotes of the beau mondc even 
 in England might iuffice to demonftrate — That 
 courtezans are found iolt to all fenie of mode ft y and 
 common decency, the ftreets of London afford 
 
 nightly pioofs Therefore, that malquerading 
 
 (which is the smuiement of the Venetians) fhould 
 cloak many crimes, and that their courtezaus (hould 
 be fhamelefs and their women lewd, is no fuch 
 wonder, feeing, as we do, thoie things in this 
 Northern clime; but we may, without any illibe- 
 raliiy, Cup pole, that, from phyGcaj tauies of the 
 molt obvious kind, they aie carried to a gieater ex- 
 tent there than here : though one of the mofi en- 
 lightened and amiable of all travellers lays it would 
 be hard to be picvetl, yet, with deference to h.m, 
 I think it may be rationally luppoied. 
 
 There is an active principle in the mind of nv.n 
 which will not (offer it to rcfl ; it miift have feme 
 materials to woik upon. Men, enlightened by ici- 
 ence, have wiihm themlelves a fund, and can never 
 want food for contemplation ; but the many, in 
 thole hours when a iulpenfiou qf laboui or woilaly 
 bufineis diives them to expedients for the employ- 
 ment of th*ir time, aie but too prone to leave the 
 mind to the guidance of the. lenies. and to cognate 
 on vice till they wifli to practiie it. Hence that 
 homely hut tiue laying, ; ' Idlenels is the loot of all 
 cv.l." In England we have a variety of expedi- 
 ents which the Vene:ians want, whole minds be- 
 ing befides naturally more vivklj arc more prompt 
 
REFLECTIONS GN THE. &c. 137 
 
 to give a loofe to the warm illufions of fenfual 
 fancv. Thus prepared, they meet the carnival, 
 when every thing conlpires to give circulation to 
 indulgence ; and when thole operations of the mind 
 which with us have lo many channels to difcharge 
 themielves, with them, like a vail dream luddenly 
 confined to one narrow channel, burft forth with 
 an irrefiflable torrent, and carry away before them 
 every bond that religion or morality has laid down 
 as reftraints on the exhuberance of human pafRon. 
 The cuftoms and habits of the place and time con- 
 tribute to it ; for, while the ievere retlriclions of 
 the female lex for the reft of the year fharpen both 
 inclination and invention on the one hand — on the 
 other, the unbounded licenie, the univerfai change 
 of habits, cuftoms and laws — the total lufpenfion 
 of all distinction, care, or bufinefs which take place 
 at that time, aided by perpetual maiquerade — and 
 thofe mod convenient of all receptacles, the gon- 
 dolas, with thofe mod expert and forward of all 
 pandars, the gondoliers — afford ample icope to their 
 willies, and form altogether a mals of circumilawces 
 in favour of vicious indulgence, not to be found 
 in any other part of Chrifteridom ; to rend which, 
 they muft be more virtuous than any other people 
 — a point never yet laid to their charge by thebeft- 
 naiuied and mod extenuating of all thoie who have 
 written upon that iubjcdt. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 JL ROFLIGATE though the people of 
 London are, 1 will not allow that it is fo vicious a 
 city as Venice. That there aie in it, and indeed 
 in all capitals, individuals who have reached the 
 
 M 2 
 
138 REFLECTIONS ON' THE 
 
 higheft acme of fhamelefs debauchery and depra- 
 vity, it would be foolifh to deny : but that concu- 
 binage is practiled in the lame open way, fo gene- 
 rally, or fo lyftematicaHv as at Venice, no one will 
 Venture to aflfert. I truft the day of depravity and 
 indelicacy is far removed from us, that will exhibit 
 a Britifh mother arranging a plan of accommodation 
 for her Ion, and bargaining for a young virgin to 
 commit to his embraces — as they do in Venice — 
 not as wife, but as concubine. On that one cul- 
 toin of the Venetian ladies I reft my pofnion ; and 
 have no hefitation to avow, that all the private 
 concubinage of London amounts not to fuch a fla- 
 grant confumm* tion of moral turpitude and fhame- 
 lcis indelicacy as that practice to which I allude. 
 
 The Venetian men are well-featured and well- 
 {haped — the women, well-fhaped, beautifal, and, 
 it is faid, witty : but I had that within which rob- 
 bed every object, of its charms; and I might lay 
 witri Hamlet, that * ; man delighted not me, nor 
 woman either." — In Lhort, not all the beauties and 
 novelty of the place, not all the plealures that flare 
 the traveller in the face, and folicit his enjoyment,, 
 not all the exquifue looks of the ladies, could rcufe 
 my mind ftom its melancholy, or fix my attention — 
 I grew weary of Venice before I had been many 
 hours in it, and determined to grafp at the very fit it 
 ©oportunity that offeted for my departure. 
 
 I had arranged, in my own mind, a plan to pro- 
 ceed to Latichea, a considerable fea-port town in 
 Syria, and thence to Aleppo, whence, as it was a 
 great Eaftern mart, 1 entertained hopes that I 
 ihould find a fpeedy, or at lead a certain convey- 
 ance, by a caravan, acrofs the deferts, to Baflorah, 
 and little doubted but that I Ihould find a veilcl at 
 fome of the Venetian ports, either bound, or be- 
 longing to a fea-port of fuch commercial conie- 
 quence, upon which I could procure a paflage— 
 But in this I was difappointed ; for, on the fullcft 
 
VENETIANS. 159 
 
 inquiry that I could make, I found that there was 
 only one (hip ready to laji; and no probability of 
 any other for a considerable time after — I did every 
 thing 1 could to avail mvfelf of this conveyance, 
 but was difappointed, owing to a young lady being 
 palfengcr, who was daughter to the owner of the 
 veffel — and the old gentleman did not approve of 
 an Englifh officer being of the party with his daugh- 
 ter. 1 uled every argument without iuccels, ur- 
 ging the reiident, Mr Strange, who had behaved 
 very politely to me during my fhort residence at 
 Vemce, to irue.eft himielf about it : I likewife 
 entreated Mrs. Strange, an affable, pleaiant wo- 
 man, to exert her endeavours, and made her laugh, 
 by propoiing to her to give me a certificate of my 
 behaviour, and to pledge herfelf to the old gentle- 
 man that the happinefs or honour of his family 
 would not be diftuibed by me during the paflage. 
 
 Heating, however, that a fhip lay at Trie fie, 
 which was to fail thence for Alexandria in Egypt, 
 I determined to embrace that opportunity, and, in- 
 ltead of my former intended route, go to Grand 
 Cairo, thence to Saez, and !b down the Red Sea, 
 by way of Mecca, to Moca, and thence to Aden, 
 which company's v^fTeis, or India country traders 
 are always to be found going to one or other «f 
 the Biitifh fcttlements. 
 
 I accordingly let out for Triefle, with all the im- 
 patience of a fanguine mind, anxious to change 
 place, eager to pufh forward, and full of the new 
 loute I had laid down — the charms of which, par- 
 ticularly of feeing Grand Cairo, the Land of Egypt, 
 and the Pyramids, were painted by my imagination 
 in all the glowing exaggerated colours of lomance. 
 The captain of the veilel was then at Venice, and 
 I accompanied him to Tiieile, which is about fixty 
 miles from Venice. 
 
 Soon after our arrival at Triefle, I had the mor- 
 tification to find, that the vellei was by no means 
 
140 REFLECTIONS ON THE 
 
 likely to keep pice with the ardour of my mind, 
 and. that, awing <o lomc unfoieleen event, her de- 
 pai cuie was to be delayed ; lo, after a few of thoie 
 erLdions which may be iuppofed on luch an ecc?ft- 
 on to elcape a man of no very cool temper hanging 
 on the tenter-hooks of expedition, I found it ne- 
 cefiary to fit down, and patiently wait the revolu- 
 tion of time and event, which nothing could either 
 impede or accelerate. 
 
 It has often been remarked, and is held as a point 
 of faith by Predeftinarians, that tome men are 
 doomed by fate to dilappointment — and that, when 
 they are lo, no wildom can obviate, no vigilance 
 provide againft, nor no relolution re ft ft, her de- 
 crees ; bur, that, in, {pile of all the efforts of realnn 
 and induftry, a leries of ftniiier events dial! purlue 
 them through life, and meet ihem at every turn 
 they attempt to take. Such has been my lot for 
 the greater! part of my life-— but 1 have neither 
 faith enough in predeftination, nor felf-love enough 
 fo far to blind me to my own faults, as to iuppole that 
 lady fate had any thing at all to do with it. No, 
 no ; it was often owing to a temper, waim, impa- 
 tient, and uncontroled. which, in almoft all caics 
 of momentary embarraffment, chaied reaion from 
 her office, ulurped her place, and decided as chance 
 directed. Let every man examine the grounds of 
 all his lerious dilappointments in life with candour, 
 and he will find phyfical cauies to which to aflign 
 them, without retorting to iupernatural. For my 
 part, when I hear a man fay that he has been all his 
 life puriued by ill-fortune, I direclly conclude, that 
 either he has been a blundeier, or thoie he dealt 
 with, brutes. In the ordinary operation of earthly 
 contingencies, miichances will happen ; but an 
 uniform life of milchance can only arife from mif- 
 managerrent, or a very extraordinary chain of human 
 injustice.— • 
 
VENETIANS. 141 
 
 Thefe reflections arofe from the following in- 
 cident : 
 
 I had procured a fervant to attend me on my 
 journey, who, from my Short oblervation of him, 
 promiied to contribute very considerably to my 
 comfort, my convenience, and, indeed, to my Se- 
 curity, as he was apparently honeft, fincere, active, 
 and clever in his duty, and mailer of Several lan- 
 guages, and particularly of the lingua Franca, a 
 mixture of languages, peculiarly uieful in travel- 
 ling through the Eaft. Finding that I was likely 
 to be delayed at Tiiefte, and conceiving that in 
 this interim letters from England, for which I moffc 
 ardently longed, might have arrived at Venice for 
 me, I imprudently and impetuoufly Sent him to 
 Venice, for the purpofe of taking them up, and 
 carrying ihem to me. But gueis what mult have 
 been my feelings when I found, ahnoft immedi- 
 ately after his departure, that the vefTel wa^> prepar- 
 ing to fail, and that 1 mud either lole my paffage or 
 my iervant : anxious though I was to get forward, 
 and grievous though my former delay had been to 
 me, I hefitated which to do ; but prudence, for 
 once, prevailed over inclination ; and I determin- 
 ed, at all events, to depart, under all the embanarT- 
 ment attending the w.;nt of a iervant and lmgu.ft, 
 and all the poignant feelings of having been accel- 
 fary to the dilappointment, and perhaps the injury 
 of a poor fellow, whom I really conceived to be a 
 peilon ot merit. In our palT-jge to Alexandria we 
 touched at Zir te. an ilbnd on 'he coaft of Greec, 
 belonging to Venice ; it was anciently called Za- 
 cynthus — is about frity miles in encurnference, and 
 Contains fifty thoutand inHb; ants. Never before 
 had I tafted any thing equal to the. delicious flavour 
 of the fruits of this lfland— the grapes exq nfue, 
 and the melon) and peaches of prodigious o.gnefs 
 and unequalled flavour. The ifland is abundantly 
 fruitful in wine, currants, oil, ngs, and corn, but 
 
142 REFLECTIONS ON THE, &c. 
 
 is very fubjt-£t to earthquakes. Near the f-a-port 
 which we entered is as great a curioluy in nature as 
 is any where, I believe, to be found* Two Spring 
 wells of clear frefh water throw up large pieces of 
 leal pitch in fuch quantities, that, it is faid, the 
 people collect, one year with another, one hundred 
 barrels of it, which they ufe in paying their fhip* 
 ping and boats. 
 
 In the fii ft ftages of melancholy, confolation is 
 i ejected by the mind as premature. The hearr, in- 
 tent, as it were, upon Tupping full of woe, dif* 
 claims all advances of comfort, and feeds on grief 
 alone. Hence the truly Wilful in the human heart 
 tonddtr premature conization is an aggravation of 
 w ■.)?, and COmfaft only with condolence, well know, 
 ing that the tide of guef mull take its courfe, and 
 that, until u bf nrft full, no hopes can be had of 
 itl retiring. The. full force of this I began now 
 to feel. The difquietude of domeftic embarraff- 
 jnent---the bitterneis of reparation from all I loved 
 ---the folitary ladnefs of my fituation, wandering 
 through unknown countries— -myfelf unknown and 
 unfriended— aggravated at length by the lofs of my 
 iervant, who was a fort of pi* p to my fpirits— - and 
 my being call into a {hip among a people whofe 
 language I little underitood, without any foul or 
 one circumflar.ee to mitigate mv lonow, or coniole 
 me under it ; all thefe, I f»y. had wound up my 
 feelings to the higheft pitch of fortune — Mute 
 tnifeiable I could not be when the ifland of Zan'.e 
 received me. and, for the fu ft time for a fad feries 
 of days, raiicd me with the tranlpoi ting louud of 
 an Englifh voice, 
 
 I have promiied my Frederick, to give you 1 
 candid relation, in hopes that you will improve by 
 it : but if 1 thought, th the contrary, any 
 
 thing I faid mould tend to raife in your mind a ien- 
 timent injurious to your principles, or reflective on 
 your father's conduct, but to be an example and ad- 
 
ADVENTURE AT ZANTE. 143 
 
 monitory guide to your own, I fho<ld condemn my 
 and curie the hour t i .at I wrote — but, I 
 truft to your good fenfc and tiiipoii tion, with my 
 care to dire£t them ; and Lull, but not witnout he- 
 fitaticn, proceed. But, as I have already iprun out 
 this letter to luch an extent, I wdi defer my fur- 
 ther relation to another. 
 
 LETTER. XXVI, 
 
 A- 
 
 -T the time I Pet out upon my journey 
 over land to India, I was (though married, and the 
 father of children) very young, n&turally of a (anguine 
 condttution : my attachment to the fair lex was no 
 ways diminifhed by a military education ; and a 
 warmth of temper, an ardent fenfibility of mind, 
 and a frank unfufpicious difpofition, left me but too 
 often to regret the facility with which I yielded to 
 the charms of women. But the regret for each 
 error was wilfully (mothered in vain determinations 
 of amendment — and the prcmiied amendment aoain 
 broken in upon by fome new error. Thus it was, 
 till riper years and c ire um Ranees of weight ftrength- 
 ened my reafon, and gave it in fome greater degree 
 that dominion it mould have over my a&ions. 
 
 Ciicumftanced as I have in my la it letter defcribed 
 myfelf to be, and con diluted by natuie and educa- 
 tion as I have mentioned above, I landed in the 
 charming ifhnd of Zante, where nature he felf 
 ieerns to hive cOnfjyired againft chafiity--makinor 
 the very air breathe nothing but ttaniport and de- 
 light. There 1 met 3 young lady, a native of Eng- 
 land — extremely pretty, highly accomplifhed, a. -id 
 captivating in the extreme : {he had been at Venice 
 fur r.er education — was a comoiete miitiels of mufic, 
 
144 ADVENTURE AT ZANTE. 
 
 and expreffed an intention of following it profefii- 
 onally on her arrival at England, whither was going 
 paffenger in a veffol bouna there from Zante. To 
 have accidentally met with a native of England, 
 even of my own lex, in (uch a diftant coiner of the 
 world, under luch circumstances as mine, jult elcap- 
 ed from the horrid life I had for iome time led, 
 nvuft have filled me with joy : allowance, therefore, 
 nv.y be made for my feelings on 'meeting this young 
 lady, and for my thinking of fome expedient to 
 p-event our leparation. Stie laboured, pnhaps, un- 
 der the preffure of feelings as dilagreeablc as my 
 o.vn, and expreffed her fatisfacYon at meeting with 
 a countryman io very unexpectedly. Reierve WbS 
 loon thrown oft on both fides : we entered into a 
 converlation interefting and confidental, which in- 
 crealed my anxiety to keep her with me, and in or- 
 der to periuade her to accompany me, 1 pointed out 
 in the ftrongeft colours poiTible, the great advan- 
 tages fhe might derive from her accomplifhments in 
 I'fidia, where her mufical talents alone, exclufive of 
 her various captivating qualities, would be ah inex- 
 hauftible mine of wealth. In fhort, 1 io very eagerly 
 enforced mv piopofal to accompany me, and time 
 was !o very fhort, that fhe contented, and in two 
 hours we had arranged every thing for our depar- 
 ture together---and here with fhame and honor I 
 confeis (nor (ball ever ceafe to regret u), that i.his 
 ecclaireciffement communicated the fir ft ray of lub- 
 ftantial pleafure lo my heart that it felt fince I left 
 London. 
 
 Thus far, our prejeft failed before the wind : 
 wayward imagination had decked it out in the moffc 
 aluiing drapery that fancy could fabricate, and 
 prevented us from feeing the irr.ri Cl cability pf it, 
 as it flood in the nakednels of truth j and when it 
 came to be carried into execution, a ihoulaqd c;i!i- 
 culties occurred, that the wildnefs of paiTion, and 
 the warmth of oui feelings, hau before Concealed 
 
ADVENTURE AT ZANTE. 145 
 
 from our view. In the firft place, it was neceffary 
 for her to obtain the conient of a lady to whofe 
 care and prote&ion (he was committed : in the next 
 place, accommodations were to be procured for her 
 in the fame fnip with me — a circumftance of moft 
 arduous difficulty ; belides which, a variety of 
 
 r impediments — infuperabie indeed — concur- 
 red to fruftrate our views, and put an end to our 
 piej.ct. If my pleafure at meeting her was great, 
 my anguifh at parting with her was inexpreiiib'e. 
 I had once more to face the woild alone ; and, on 
 the lecond day of my iojourning at Zante, errd a. ked 
 with a heavy heart, and iet lail for Alexandria, 
 The lafL difappo'.ntments we undergo, feem alwai s 
 the heavieft ; and this at Zarue 1 thought at that 
 time to be the greateft of my life. But — oh ! flic t- 
 fighted man ! bubble of every delufive fhadow ! I 
 never refk&ed, as I have fince clone, what lerious 
 mifchiefs, what endlei's milery, what lofs of time, 
 means, and reputation, I may by that providential 
 disappointment have efcaped — for ihefe are the al- 
 mofi never-failing confeq.uences of f'uch affairs. It 
 too often happens, that the fyren who deludes a 
 man into her inares, is the very perfon who infiifta 
 the deadly wound into his heart. Avo;d, my 
 Frederick! avoid all iuch, as you would avoid 
 plague, peftilence, or ruin — fteel your heart by 
 I v reflection againft their advances. In all your 
 
 trania&ions with women, like a good general }r\ 
 
 .re, fecure for your heart a ieueat ; for it 
 be too lare to find that they aie unworthy v 
 your heart is enfnared — and when you find . 
 worthy of your affection, it will be time enough 
 to g : ve a lcoie to the lenfibility' of your heait. 
 virtuous woman is beyond all calculation to be 
 valued, when {he is found ; but, alas ! in finding 
 her, you may pafs through i'o many fiics ordeal, 
 
 run fuch danger, that it is aimrfl a doubt, whe- 
 ther a wife man (if he cart fetter his paflions) had 
 
 N 
 
146 ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 not better difpenfe with the blefiing, than run the 
 hazard of learching for it. 
 
 On my arrival at Alexandria, I found, to my 
 frtfh mortification, that the plague was raging all 
 over Egypt — and as, if this was not of itfelf luffi- 
 cient to block up my intended route, an irruption 
 of 'he Arabs, who in formidable bodies infeRed 
 all the roads, put a period to all my hopes of kemg 
 Grand Cairo, and viewing the curiofnies of that 
 counlry 9 which all who, like us. have the Bible 
 pjt eariy into their hands, are taught to venerate 
 as foon as they are taught to re<id. Here I thought 
 to have viewed the pyramids, whole antiquity, ori- 
 gin, or intended ufe, have baffled the learned and 
 ingenious inquiries of lo many ages — of beholding 
 Mount Sinai, the flone of Moles, the tract of the 
 Ihaclites. all of which are laid to be clearly pointed 
 out, and geography by that means biought into the 
 iupportof Sacied Hiiloiy. Theie. and many things, 
 I cid. wifli to fee — they are worth it : but I have 
 had fince reafon to believe, that my ill luck was 
 not fo great as I then thought it ; for the iearch is 
 dangerous, and made prodigioufly expenuve by the 
 exactions of the Mahomedan magiftiates. It is as 
 well, therefoie, to travel c;ver this country in bocks, 
 which afford us good information, and more of it, 
 at an eafier rate than you could pur chafe it in the 
 country. 
 
 Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great, 
 foon after the overthiow of Tyre, ;-Lout 333 years 
 bcfce Christ, and is fituateu on the Mediterra- 
 nean, twelve miles well of that n.outh of the Nile, 
 arcien'lv calico L cum. A very extraordinary 
 
 cir cum dance is related a? a proof of the luddenneis 
 of Alexander's resolution fo buiid it : Aft 
 had d^refho the number of public ftnctures, and 
 .fixed the places where they were to (land, there 
 vec no in ft rumen ts at hand proper tor marking 
 out tne walls, according to the cuftom of thole 
 
ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 147 
 
 times : upon this, a woikman advifed the King to 
 ct what meal was among the ioiciiers, and 1. ft 
 it in lines upon the ground, in order to mark, out 
 the circuit of the walls : the advice was followed, 
 and the king's foothfayer interpreted it to be a pre- 
 face of the future proiperity and abundance of the 
 cuy. This prophecy was certainly afterwards ve- 
 rified ; for it iuon became the emporium of com- 
 merce, of arts, and of (ciences. 
 
 tiy the defcriplion of Strabo and other anci- 
 ents, it appears that this city was built upon a plan 
 worthy me vail mind of its founder; and the 
 nents of its ornaments afterwards made part of the 
 grmu- it erabeliiiTim<tiis of Rome and Couftaui 
 
 lr. the muleum of the royal palace, which 
 occupied a fouith part of the city, the body of 
 Aizxancer wos depofued in a golden coffin — 
 but the ce'.eftable Seleucus CiBYOf actes viola- 
 ted the monument, took away the golden coflin, 
 and fub diluted a glafs one in its place. 
 
 This city like moll others of antiquity, has been 
 the fecne of terrible malfacres. About two hun- 
 ched years after its foundation, it was totally depo- 
 sed by Ptolemy Physcon — the very lew 
 efcaped (laughter, flying into other countries* 
 trous, iic;vever, not to reign over empty houfes, 
 be feduced inhabitants from the neighbouring coun- 
 tries: and again, for fome flight offence, deteirnin- 
 ed on a gcneial maifscte of the young men ; and 
 accordingly, when they were one day aflembled in 
 the Gyoanafiuna, or place of public exerciie, he 
 ordered it to be fet on fire, Jo that all perifhed, 
 either in t he flame*, or by the (words of his mer- 
 cenaries, whom he had placed at ali the av er-ues. 
 Afterwards, in the year of Christ 235, the Em- 
 peror Caracalla, having been lampooned by lomc 
 of the inhabitants, ordered a general maffacre by 
 his numerous troops, who were difperfed over the 
 city. The inhuman orders being given, ail were 
 
148 ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 murdered, without diflin&ion of age or fex •, fe 
 that, in one night's time, the whole city floated in 
 blood, and every houfe was filled with carcaies: 
 the monfler himfelf, retiring to the temple of Se- 
 rapis, was ail the time imploring the protection of 
 the Deity — a proof that practical devotion and the 
 rnofl atrocious inhumanity may meet in the fame 
 boiom. As if this had not been fufficient ven- 
 geance, he Gripped the city of all its ancient pri- 
 vileges — ordered all {hangers who lived there to 
 depart — and, that the few who remained might 
 not have the (atisfa&ion of feeing one another, he 
 cut off ail communication of one flreet with ano- 
 by walls built fur the put pole, and guarded 
 
 in (landing thefe ir.avTicres, Alexandria again 
 recovered its former lulendour—and ws 
 
 :d by Ambov, the m famous Saracen — an 
 the intrepid youth of the city pet;fhed vwth arms 
 in their hands. The mngnihcer.ee of the city may 
 be eftimated from the account wri'ten by Amrou 
 [fo the Caliph : " 1 have taken," laid he, <; in* 
 City of the Weft ; it is of an immenie extent ; I 
 cannot defcribe to you how m?ny wonders it con- 
 tains, there are 4.C00 palaces, 4COO baths," &c. &c. 
 The great advantages of the Eaft India trade, 
 
 h was then carried on by the Red Sea, pre- 
 fer ved Alexandria through. fever;il revolutions ; but 
 having fallen under the dominion of the Turks, 
 and the p u fTage round the Cape of Good Hope 
 being diicoveied, a f j tat blow was given to its 
 commerce, arvd it ins hnce fallen to decay. It is, 
 however, even now, worth the attention of 
 ela&ical traveller* Entering the harbour, we paf- 
 fed by the lfland of Pharos, were Ptolemy 
 
 not -nous tower which was once the wonder of 
 the wotjd ; and, when riding within the port, no- 
 be more gratifying than to lee 
 llicnce that mixture ci ana mudciu n. 
 
ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. IJ9 
 
 ments that prefented themfelves to the view, 0:1 
 which ever fide the eye could be turned. 
 
 Of myriads of antiquities which this place af- 
 fords for the infpection of the curious, I (hall men- 
 tion only two — One, the column of Pompey, on 
 viewing of which, the remembrance of that great 
 and good man's mod unmerited and cruel fate ex- 
 tracted a ftgh from the bottom of my heart : this 
 pi Liar engages the attention of all travellers ; it is 
 compo[ed of red gianite ; the capital is Corinthian, 
 with palm leaves, and not indented ; the fliaft and 
 the upper member of the bafe are of' one piece, 
 ninety feet long ; ?.nd nine in diameter; the bale, 
 a iquare of fifteen feet on each fide ; the whole 
 column is one hundred and fourteen feet high, 
 perfe6tly well polilhed, nnd only a little ihivcred 
 on the eaftern fide. Nothing; can equal the mated v 
 of this monument : teen from a diilance it over- 
 tops the town, and ferves as a lignal for vetTels ; 
 approaching it nearer, it produces an aitonifhmcni 
 mix?d with awe: one would never he tired of ad- 
 miring the beatitv of the canital, the length of the 
 fhaft, nor the exraordinary Simplicity of the pe- 
 deftal. Some years ago. a party of Englifh feamen 
 contrived, by flying a kite, to draw a line over the 
 pillar, and by mat means made a kind of a fhroud, 
 by which they got up, and on the very top of it 
 drank a bowl of punch, to the utter aftonifhment 
 of a multitude who came to fee them; they broke 
 off one of the volutes of the column, but amply 
 cornpenla'.ed for this m Tchief by a difcovery they 
 made, as, wirhout their evidence, the world weald 
 nut haVe known, at this hour, that there wai ori- 
 ginally a lt..ue on this Column, one foot and ancle 
 or which, '.A ehormou! fize, -.re flill remaintnjr. — 
 Tf'.e other is the i Cleopatra, of irri- 
 
 n;c fize, and of one . gar- 
 
 ble. Mere I ob too, a th;ck wall, w 
 
 towers moulclerir.- unc er extreme age, which con- 
 
 K 2 
 
l $q ARRIVAL AT CYPRUS. 
 
 aired, in its face, fragments of architecture of the 
 rr.oit exquinte woikmanfhip, fuch as broken co- 
 lumns, friezes. &.C. ; thole were the antique ruins 
 of iome fallen pieces of antiquity, at the time that 
 tr is ant : que wall was built : what then mud be the 
 length ({ time (ince they had firft undergone the 
 hands of the woskman? Thefe citcumftar.ces tend, 
 to demonftrate, that, far back beyond the reach of 
 our calculation, the arts flourifhed : and when one 
 thinks of the miraculous maffes of work done ia 
 foimer ages — the magnitude of the pieces of which 
 thoi'e wo;ks were corrrpcied, fuch as whole columns 
 and obelifks of a fingle bleck of marble — the Co- 
 h iT-is of Rhodes, mace of brafs, one foot of which 
 was p!?ccd on one fine of the harbour, and another 
 on the other fide, lb that (hips paffed between its 
 legs — we cannot help yielding up the palm to the 
 ancient? for ilupendous magnificence, however wg 
 may furpafs them for the uieful, the elegant, and 
 good. 
 
 At Alexandria I remained about twelve- days, 
 
 till, wearied of the confined (late I lived in on 
 
 account of she plague. 1 reiolved to devife iome 
 
 means, if poflible, to get away, and at length hired 
 
 to carry rr.c to the iftand of Cyprus, fiorn 
 
 .nee I concluded, that I fhould find no-.ort of 
 
 in procuring a conveyance to Latichea, 
 
 ; (o proceed by irt-y ft ft intended route. 1 ac- 
 co: arrived at Cyprus in perfect wnre, 
 
 to ir.y great for row and aitonifhmen?, I found Uiat 
 an eai fever, equal in its efre£ts to 3 plaj 
 
 e vailed : however, there was no alternative ; I 
 mud run the riique,. and I di far fled the boat that 
 carried me from Alexandria. 
 
 Although the etymologies of the names of places 
 are of very little importance, at d moft frequently 
 uncertain, I think it picbable that the ieanied are 
 r. who auert the name of this is derived fi 
 
 efs — \--iih v nc! 
 
ARRIVAL AT CYPRUS. 151 
 
 abounds. It had, in ancient times, a number of 
 other names — one cf which was P t ;phia, whence 
 Venus, who was worfhipped in ir, was called the 
 Paphian Goddefs. It lies thirty miles weft of Sy- 
 ria, whither I was bound, ftretchinp from the 
 iouth-weft to the norlh-eaft, one hundicd and fifiy 
 miles in length, and feventy in breadth in the 
 wide ft part of it. 
 
 This ifland holds a very high rank in cb-ffic lore 
 —It gave birth to lome great philosophers and con- 
 iiderable poets — The Apoftle Barnabas was a na- 
 tive of it, and, aflitted by St. Paul, fi.'ft intro- 
 duced Chriftianity among them. FVmngufta, a town 
 on the eaftern pait of the ifland, op polite to the 
 fhore of Syria, is the ancient Salamis, built by 
 Teucer. the fon of Telamon, and bicther of 
 A j ax. 
 
 Symiflo, on the fonth-eaft, the bed Dort in Cy- 
 prus, is the Amathus mentioned by Virgil, in 
 his jEneid, and by Ovid in his Metamoi pholes. 
 And BafTo, on the Weftern coaft, is ;he Paphos of 
 antiquity, famous for the Temple of Venus. 
 
 As the branches of an empire moft remote from 
 the gteat leat of government arc always more def- 
 potically governed than thole near the iouice of 
 redreis, Cyprus has been continuallv ruled with a 
 rod of iron fmce it came into the bands of the 
 Turks. While it was under the dominion of 
 Chriftians, it was well peopled, having no lefs than 
 eight hundred or a thouiand villages in it, betides 
 feveral handlome cities ; but the Turks have ipread 
 ruin and defoiation over the country, and it is new 
 fo thinly inhabited that more than half the lands 
 lie> uncultivated. 
 
 The air of this ifnnd is now for the moft pmt 
 
 unvvh^lciomc, owing to the damps ariiing from the 
 
 noany ftn r > and marines with whicii the country 
 
 jnds — while, there being but few fpviijgs or 
 
 livers in tue nlano. the want of a plentiful fall of 
 
152 ARRIVAL AT CYPRUS. 
 
 rain, at proper periods, diftieiles the inhabitants 
 very much in another way ; and by means of the 
 uncultivated ftate of the country, they are greatly 
 infefted with poiionous reptiles of various kinds. 
 
 The mod remarkable mountain in Cyprus is cal- 
 led Olympus — a name common to feveral other 
 mountains in Greece, particularly to that in Theffa- 
 ly, fo famous in the poetry of the ancients. That 
 in Cyprus is about fifty miles in ciicumference : 
 great part of it is covered with woods ; and at the 
 foot of it are fine vineyards, which produce admi- 
 rable wine, not only in a lutiiciency for their own 
 confumption, but lome alio for exportation. And 
 although the greater part of the ifland lies unculti- 
 vated, as I have before obferved, it produces a fuf- 
 ficient quantity of corn, unlefs in leaions when 
 their harveft fails, in which c^fe the people are eafi- 
 !y fupplied riom the continent. They have, bc- 
 {ides, cattle enough for their own confumption. 
 Many parts of the count iy abound in wildfowl, and 
 feveral forts of game, and they have plenty of fifh 
 upon the iea co fls. 
 
 The trade of Cyprus is not inconfiderable, and 
 carried on chiefly by Jews and Armenian* : the 
 commodities in which they deal ate wine, oil, cot- 
 ton, wool, fait, filkj and turpentine — befides, it 
 produces feveral forts of earth, fit fci the ule of 
 painters, particularly red, b :>ck, and yellow. 
 
 Its mot! wonderful production, however, is the 
 famous (lone (Afbeuos) inexiinguifhable, or (Ami- 
 antos) impollutus, fo ciicd from- its extraordinary 
 property of N -.filth;/. fVre. It is related that tr an- 
 cients made out of this Hone a kino of in read that 
 would. remain ui led in the moft interne fire. 
 
 It is even faid, thai fome ex-periwer s b 
 ;. • in modi . - 
 
 ed that the thing rs t ; or.. 
 
 dir.arv o ie ftic ns ' ly 
 
 coau'uuiu. 1 always 1 . u;i>g 
 
ARRIVAL AT CYPRUS. 1 5 
 
 5 
 
 flronger than mere afiertion is offered to convince 
 me. 
 
 There is one dreadful mischief to wh : ch this ifland 
 is fuhjeft. In the hot feafon, locufts come from 
 the Continent, in fwarms (o vaft and io thick as to 
 darken the fky like clouds. Tho. r e would certainly 
 devour all the fruits of the earth, if they were not 
 driven to fea by a north wind that ufually blows at 
 the time of their coming. When that wind hap- 
 pens to fad, which fortunately is feldom, the conie- 
 quence is a total demolition of the fruits of the 
 country. 
 
 The whole ifland, as well as particukr towns, 
 was entirely coniecrated to the goddefs Venus, 
 w Ho thence was called Venus Cypria, or Dea 
 Cypria, and is represented by the poets as taking 
 a 1 eculiar plea Cure in viliiing it ; and this unquefti- 
 onably arofe from the loofe habits and lafcivioul 
 temperament of the women thete, who certainly are, 
 at this time, not remarkable for chaility, 
 
 I mull confefs, however, that I felt great plea- 
 fure in entering Cvprui ; it was, as I have already 
 flared, claffie ground, and dedicated to the Q »een 
 of Love. But a traveller who viiit-s it with hopes 
 of amuiement. will be much difappoimed •, for in 
 no one particular did k (ecm 10 me to refemble that 
 Cyprus famed in the Heathen Story and Mytholo- 
 gy. Of the Cyprian queen's favours the ladies 
 teemed to boafl no one maik. hive the mod naufeou?, 
 dilgufting lewdnels ; ana the natural fertility of the 
 foil is half loft, beneath the opprefiive yoke of the 
 fervants of the Turkiih government. Thus, in the 
 extraordinary revolutions that human affairs are in- 
 ccffantly undergoing, that iflmd which for its fupe- 
 rior beauties was luppoied to be the re fide nee of 
 love, which gave birth to. the philosophers Zeno, 
 Appo lion lis, and Xe nop 11 on', is now a raife* 
 vated Ipot, peopled with a mixture 
 of Wietched iuiks, Jews, Giecks, arid Chiiftians 
 
154 ARRIVAL AT LATICHEA. 
 
 — —groining under the tyranny of a barbarous defpo- 
 tic abufe of delegated power— infcftcd with locufts 
 which devour the fruits of the earth— -and dilgiaced 
 by a race of ignominious women, who cfteem it to 
 be an a£l of religion to proftuutc themfeives to all 
 fl rangers. 
 
 Our Richard the Fir ft mane a conquefr. of t,hii 
 ifiand on his way to the Holy Land, and conferred 
 the royalty of it on Guy Lusicnan, king of • 
 rufaiem. The Venetians poffv.ifed the mi elves of 
 it in the year 1480 — but, in the iixtcenth centuiy, 
 the Turks difpolTenea them, and have ever iince 
 kept it under the yoke--- 1 fiiould have remained 
 that their wine is excellent. 
 
 mi nut ng my route, I, hired anmbei boat, after 
 only forty-eight hours (lay at Cyprus, and proceed- 
 ed for Latichea, which, as 1 have lomewhere be- 
 fore mentioned, is a confiderable lea-port town of 
 Syria, built on a promontory of land, which, run- 
 ring into the iea, occafions its being continually 
 refrefhed with breezes. Fortune, who had hither- 
 to been not veiy liberal in her difpeniations, now 
 favoured me ; for, juit as 1 arrived at Latichea, a 
 C3ravan was preparing. The coniul of the Turkifh 
 Company at Cyprus leceived me with gieat polite- 
 nefs and hofpitalit) — gave me a letter to the refident 
 at Latichea ; and by his inftiuction and afiiftance, 
 after a very fhoit flay, I let out on my way to Alep- 
 po with the cat a van. 
 
 As I fhall hereafter have crcafion more particular- 
 ly to deferibe the nature or thole caravans, I (hail, 
 for the preient, tell you, that this was compoied of 
 no other beafts of burden than mules and aifes, of 
 which there wete not ids than three or four hundred 
 in number. 
 
 Mounted on a mule, 1 travelled along, well 
 plea fed with the fertile appearance of the country, 
 and delighted with the ieienity of the air — We 
 were, as well a* I c..n now recollect, near ten ti.iyt 
 on the toad ; during which time we travelled only 
 
ARRIVAL AT ALEPPO. 155 
 
 injhe morning early, and in the heat of the day 
 repoled under the fhade cf trees. 
 
 I was informed, that if, in (lead of going to Lati- 
 chea, I hid gone to Scandaroon (otherwile Alexan- 
 dria), I fhould, in the road from thence to Aleppo, 
 have travelled through a country, in which the mo ft 
 lingular and extravagant cu Proms prevail that exift 
 in any country emcigcd from barbarifm — Several of 
 thofe I heard ; but one in particular was, that the 
 men proftituted their wives and daughters to ail 
 comers — and that this originated fiom a principle of 
 religion, though there was everv realdn to believe, 
 tha 1 , like many of their religious institutions, it was 
 mad„ atlaft fubfervient to the gratification of avarice. 
 
 On rrv way to Aleppo, I was met by a Mr. — t 
 an Englilh g* nt'.eman, who had heard of my coming, 
 and who, in the mod kind and hofpitable manner, 
 infifted upon my living at his houle inftead of the 
 Brinfh conful's, wheie I ihould otherwiie have le- 
 iideu during my Hay there; and his manner of 
 afkh:g me was io engaging, interefting, and impref- 
 iive, that I found it impoifible to refufe him. 
 
 As the great pub^c caravan had departed from 
 Aleppo before my arrival, and the expence of 
 forming a private one on my" account was too great, 
 as I was travelling on my own account, and had no 
 dif patches to author! fe or enforce my departure, or 
 bear me out in the expence ; I was conftrained to 
 remain at Aleppo till tome eiig ; ble mode of tiavel- 
 1 in g occurred, or another public caravan was foimed.. 
 This delay gave me an opportunity of r eeing and 
 informing myfelf of the ciry and lurrounding coun- 
 try ; the reiua of which, 1 fhall, in as fhort a man- 
 ,ner as pofiible, relate to you in a future letter. It 
 alfogave occafion to one of thofe unhappy incidents 
 whrcij 1 have often had occafion to lament, not from 
 any eonfeioufnefs of diic£l criminality, but for the 
 fcope u gave to mifreprefentation, and the injury 
 which that mifreprefentation did me in the opinion 
 of iome of izry inends. (End of Fart Firji.J 
 
JOURNEY TO INDIA, &c. 
 
 FART II. 
 
 LETTE R XXVII. 
 
 My dear Frederick, 
 
 UO long as the route of mv journev lay 
 through European regions, little piefented itlelf re- 
 fpefting human nature of luch very g:eif novelty as 
 to excite admiration or awaken curiofity. In all the 
 various nations through which we have patted, a 
 certain parity of ientiment, arifing from the ore 
 great fubflratum. Chnftianity, gave the fame general 
 colouring to all the i'cenes, i -■. they might differ 
 
 fiorn each oiherin their various fhadings. Whatever 
 di'flifnilitude the influence of accident, climate, 'or 
 local circumfUnce, mav, in the revolutions of agc^s, 
 have introduced into their manners, cu Horns, rr.unU 
 cipal laws, and exterior forms of w or (hip — the gvca£ 
 code of religion and moral Ientiment remains neaily, 
 the fame with all : and right and wrong, good and^ 
 evil, being defined by the (Vrne piinciples of reafon, \ 
 and afcertained by the fame boundaries, bring the-l 
 rule of concuft of each to lo c!ol" an appioxmation 
 wi'h that of the others, thai, when compared vith, 
 thoie we are now to attend to, they ma) be 
 
 coufidered as one and the lame people. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF ALEPPO. I $J 
 
 In the empire now before us, were we to leave 
 our judgment to the guidance of genera! opinion of 
 Chnftian nations, we fhould have, on the contiaiy, 
 to contemplate man undsr a variety of foims and 
 modifications, fo entirely different from thole to 
 which habit has familiariled our minds, as ar fiift to 
 imprels us with an idea of a total disruption from 
 cur nature, and induce us, as it rus already the ge- 
 nerality of our people, to divorce 'hem ftom a par- 
 ticipation of all thoie fympathetic feelings which 
 ierve to enforce the difcharge of mutual ^ood offices 
 among men. Deducing all their principles, lot 
 only of moral conduct, but municipal governmenr, 
 from a religion radically different fiom, and ?ff-nti- 
 ally adverle to, our ; deluded h\ that fyftem into a 
 variety. of opinions whic i liberality ntelf mud think 
 abfurd ; unaided by that enlightened philolbphy 
 when teaming, and learned mon, act'ng under the 
 influence of comparative freedom, and a flirted by 
 the art of printing, have diffined through the mafs 
 of Europeans ; and living uncle r a climate the molt 
 unfavourable to intellect ,ial or bodily exertion, they 
 exhibit a fpefticle wh i kofophic arid liberal 
 
 mind b 5W with d (probation, regret, and 
 
 pity — the illiberal fieice Cnn&iao with unequal) fl- 
 ed deteftation and diiguft : While, on their parr, 
 bigoted to their own principles ai nions, they 
 
 look on us with abhorrence, and incu ^ge as conici- 
 ^enaous a contempt of, and antipathy to Chi ifti.ins, 
 which I apprehend no lapfe of un r. v. itLoui a 
 great change of circumfUnce. jf*ill he able to eradi- 
 cate. Should MahemedaoiiSi and CKriflianity ever 
 happen to merge .*, Deiim (hut noi otherwise), the 
 inhabitants of -Svi a and Jiuiope v\ II c.g<ee tc con- 
 fider each oilier even as fellow-creatures^ In 
 SjMJn and Portugal, Jew, Tuik. ar ■■•zd Iio- 
 
 teftant, are without diPnfticn called hogs. In 
 Turkey, Jews and Chi'.iliaps are diicritnigtataiy 
 called dogs ; each thinking the ether completely 
 
 O 
 
158 DESCRIPTION OF ALEPPO. 
 
 excluded from the pale of humanity, and well wor* 
 thy the dagger of any true believer who would 
 have the piety to a poly it. 
 
 You will allow, my dear Frederick, that itmuft 
 have been rather an important contemplat onio your 
 father, to have perhaps two thoufands nvlcsto travel 
 through the irnmenfe and almoft tracklefs wilds of a 
 country inhabited by fuch people, without the ccn- 
 folation of any others to accompany him in his jour- 
 ney ; for, unlefs a public diipaich was to overtake 
 me, there was little probability of my having a An- 
 gle European partner of my fatigue and perils. 
 
 However, as the period \v» not yet arrived at 
 which I was to go forward, or even determine my 
 mode of travelling, I endeavoured to feothc my mind 
 as much as I could into content, and to take advan- 
 tage of my ftay at Aleppo, to acquire all the know- 
 ledge pofiible of the place, that is to lay, of that 
 cry in particular, and of the Turkifh government 
 and manners in geneta!. 
 
 A diflant view of Aleppo fills the mind with 
 expeftations of great fplendour and magnificence. 
 The mo que?, the towers, the large ranges of 
 hcufes with flat roofs, rifing above each other, ac- 
 cording to the doping hills on which they (land, 
 the whole variegated with beautiful rows of trees, 
 form altogether a fcene magnificent, gay, and de- 
 lightful : but, on entering the town, all thofe ex- 
 pected beauties vanifh, and leave nothing in the 
 ilieets to meet the eye, but a diimal fuccetifion of 
 high (tone walls, gloomy as the recedes of a con- 
 vent or ftate prifon, and unenlivened by windows, 
 errbellifhed, as with us, by the human face divine. 
 The ftreets themfelves, not wider than lome of the 
 ireaneft. alleys in? London, overcaft by the height 
 of the prifon-houfes on either fide, are rendered 
 ftill more fotmidably gloomy by the folitude and 
 filence that pervade them ; while here and there 
 a lattice toward* the top, barely viUbie, flrikcs the 
 
DESCRIPTION OF ALEPPO. 159 
 
 " foul with the gloomy idea of thraldom, coercion, 
 and imprilonment. 
 
 This delegable mode of building, which ow^s 
 its origin to jealouly, and the Icandalous re&ratnts 
 every man is empowered by the laws and religion 
 of the place to impole upon the women confi^ujd 
 eitner by iale or birth to his tyranny, ex;e:K;s not 
 to the in fide of the houfes, many of which are 
 magnificent and hand fame, and ail admirably failed 
 to thi exigencies of the climate, and the domed. c 
 Curlomfi and manner of living of the inhabitants. 
 
 The citv is adorned, it is iruc, here and there, 
 with rnofq ics and appendant towers, called Mina- 
 rets, from which cryers call the faithful to pray ens ; 
 and in fotne of the ftreets there are arches built at 
 certain distances from each other, loas to carry the 
 eye dire&ly through them, and form a vifta of con- 
 fiderable grandeur : but all thefe are far from lufii- 
 cent to counteibalance the general alpeel of gloo- 
 minefs and lolitude which reigns over the whole, 
 and renders it fo peculiarly di. gliding, particularly 
 at Hrft light, to an £nglilhman who ha? enjoyed 
 the gaiety and contemplated the freedom of a city 
 in Great B;!:ain. 
 
 The mofqi.ies (Mahomedan templet) are extreme- 
 ly numerous in this city ; indeed airaod as much 
 fo as churches and convents in the Popifn countries 
 of Chndendom. There is nothing in their exter- 
 nal appearance to attract the notice of the traveller, 
 or indulge the eye of the architect : they are almoft 
 all of one form — an oblong quadrangle : and as to 
 the in fide, I never had an opportunity of feeing 
 one ; none but Muffulmen being permitted to enter 
 them, at lead at Aleppo, 
 
 The next buildings of a public ' kind to the 
 moiqies that deferve to be particularly mentioned, 
 are tne caravanleras — buildings which, whether we 
 confider the fpirit of beneficence and charity that 
 fit it lug^eited them, their national importance, or 
 
160 DESCRIPTION OF ALEPPO. 
 
 their extenfive utility, may rank, though not in 
 fplendour of appearance, at lead in true value, 
 with any to be found in the world. 
 
 Caravanieras were originally intended for, and 
 are now pretty generally applied to, the accommo- 
 dation of Grangers and travellers, though, like evety 
 other good inftitulton, iometirnes peiverted to the 
 purpoies of private emolument or public job: they 
 are built at proper difiar.ees through the roads of 
 the Turkifb dominions, and afford the indigent r 
 weary traveller an aiylum from the inclemency of 
 the weather; ^re in general veiy large, arid built 
 of the mo: and aurabie materials; have com- 
 
 moniy one ftory above the ground floor, th.e lower 
 or which is arched, and ferves for warehoules to 
 ftow goods, for lodgings and for {tables, while the 
 upper is uled merely fur loggings ; besides wh ch r 
 they are always accommodated witn a fountain, and 
 have cooks fhops and other conveniences to {du- 
 ply the wants of the budgets. In Aleppo tne 
 (iaravanferas are .airooft exclusively occupied by 
 merchants, to whom they are, hke other houies, 
 cd. 
 
 The fuburba of Aleppo, 2nd th;> Surrounding 
 country, are very handlome, plealant, and, to a 
 peiion coming out of the gloomy city, in fome re- 
 jp. tls ir.ieren.ing. Some loffed about into hill and 
 vailcy lie under the hands of the hufbandman;. 
 others are covered with handfome villas ; and others 
 again laid out in gardens, whiiher the people of 
 Aleppo occasionally reiort for amuleraenu 
 
 i he roofs ot ail the houies aie fbt, and formed 
 of a com|iouiion which refilts the weather efTectu- 
 ally. On thole mod of the people fleep in the 
 very hot weather : they are ieparatea from each 
 other by walls; but the Franks, who live contigu- 
 ous to u;:e another, and who, itom their uiiagieea- 
 ble c i re ura fiances with ieg<ud to the Turks.- are 
 Under tne uecefiity of keeping up a hieudly and 
 
DESCRIPTION OF ALEPPO. 161 
 
 harmonious intercourfe together, have coors of 
 communication, which are attended with theie for- 
 tunate and pleafing advantages, that they can make 
 a large circuit without defcending into the ilreets, 
 and can vifit each other during the plague, with- 
 out running the rifk of catching the infection by 
 going among the natives below. 
 
 There is a caftle in the city which I had nearly 
 forgotten to mention — The native* conceive it to 
 be a place of great ftrength. It could not, how^ 
 ever, withftand the fhock of a few pieces of ord- 
 nance for a day. It is eileemed a favour to be per- 
 mitted to fee it ; and there is nothing to rccom- 
 penie one for the trouble of obtaining permJTion, 
 unlefs it be the prolpe£t of the iuiroundin^ coun- 
 try, which from the battlements is exteniive and 
 beautiful. 
 
 Near this caftic ftands the feraglio, a large old 
 building, where the bafhaw of Aleppo lelides : the 
 whole of it feemr.d to me to be kept in very bad 
 repair, confi Jering the importance of lite place. It 
 is (urrounded by a (Irong wail of g:eat height : be- 
 fides which, its contiguity to the cattle is very con- 
 venient ; as, in cafe of popular tumults, or inteftine 
 commotions, the bafhaw finds an aiylum in the latter, 
 which commands and overawes the city, and is ne- 
 ver without a numerous garrtlon under the command 
 of an A<£a. 
 
 Such is the fummary account I have been able to 
 colledi of Aleppo, the capital of Syria ; which, 
 mean though it is when compared with the capitals 
 of European count, ies, is certainly the tnird city 
 fo; ipieudour, magnificence, and importance, in the 
 vaft extent of the Ouom&n Empire — Condaotinople 
 ^d Giand Cairo only excelling it in thole poinis, 
 and no other bearing any lort of competition, with 
 it. 
 
 O s 
 
162 TURKISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 H, 
 
 .OWEVER faftion may agitate or abuf« 
 iiritate the minds of men again ft the executive branch 
 of their government, the people of everv nation 
 under Heaven are difpofed to think their own con- 
 ftitutional fyftem the Left; and the artful intertextuie 
 of religion with governments coufiitns them in that 
 opinion, and often cor.figns the underftanding to 
 unalterable, error and illiberal prejudice. It would 
 be wonderful, then, if the Turkifh confcitution, 
 founded on the Koran, was not looked upon with 
 abhorence by the bulk of the Chriflian world ; and 
 more wonderful lull, if the outrageous zealots of the 
 Chnltian church, who for fojmany centuries engroff- 
 ed all the learning of Europe lo themfelves, fhould 
 net have handed clown with exaggerated mifrepre- 
 fentation every circumftance belonging to the great 
 enemies of their faith. But that, at this clay of in- 
 tellectual illumination, mankind fhould be envelo- 
 ped in fuoh error and dark ne Is. with regard to the 
 government of fo large a portion of the globe as 
 Turkey, is extraordinary ; and only to be accounted 
 for by a reference, in the firft piece, to thole reli- 
 gious prejudices which we luck in from our nurfe, 
 and which habit, incetfant document, and eveiy part 
 of our education, tend to confirm in our muid ; 
 and in the next, to that indifpohtion the human 
 mind feels to part with its old prejudices, and the 
 general indolence and incapacity ot men to acquire 
 knowledge by the arduous and iatiguing paihs 
 of ftudy. 
 
 The Turkifh government is grofsly mifrepr<f Ten- 
 ted. Were our opinions to be directed by the gen- 
 
AND GOVERNMENT. 1 6 
 
 cral belief of Europeans, we fhould fuppofe that 
 the life and property of every being in that vail em- 
 pire were irremediably at the mercy of the Grand 
 Seignior — and that, without laws to proteft, or 
 any intermediate power whatever to fhield them, 
 they were entirely fubjtft to the capricious will of 
 an inexorable tyrant, who, ftimulaled by cruelty, 
 fharpened by avarice, and unreflrained by any law 
 human or divine, did everv thing to oppreis his 
 fubjefts, and carry defln.ftion among mankind. 
 1 firmly believe, that, from the combination of ideas 
 anting from thole prejudices, there are few Cuniti- 
 ans who think or hear of the grand Turk, that do 
 not, by an involuntary aft of the mind, iuftanily 
 think of blood and murder, fit-angling with bow- 
 flrings, and dicing off heads with cimeiers. 
 
 As there is no part of your education more near 
 my heart than the eradicating illiberal prejudices 
 from your mind, and fortifying you againlt ihcir 
 aiuults ; 1 find it impoiiible to refrain from giving 
 you my opinion of the Turkiih government, which 
 I have been at ibme pains to colleft, as well from 
 oral information as from the belt authors ; and 
 which, though very far from what a generous arid 
 universally philanthropic difpofition would wifh 
 them to have, is very different from that which is 
 generally attributed to them, and ui.queilionably 
 far more limited in its powers than the government* 
 of leveral Chnitian countries I could mention* 
 
 Theconllitutiou of that country is laid down cx« 
 prelsly in the Koran. The emperor of Turkey 
 (commonly called the Grand Seignior) is a deice. id- 
 ant of Mahomet, who pretended he had the Koran 
 from Heaven ; and he is as much bound by the in- 
 ft ;uies of that book as any lubjeft in his realm — as 
 liable to depolinon as they to puuiinment lur breach 
 of them, and indeed has been mare than once cio 
 poiVd, j3ud the ue.v .cctiieu railed fa* tile 
 
 tnione. Thus far, it is odviou^, uis power is 
 
164 TURKISH CONSTITUTIOM 
 
 limited and under control. But that is not all — It 
 is equally certain that the Tuikifh government is 
 partly republican ; for, though the people at large 
 have no fhare in the legiQation, and are excluded 
 by the Koran from it (which Koran has eftablifhed 
 and preci.'ely afcertained their rights, privileges, 
 and perfonal fecurity), yet there is an intermediate 
 power which, when louied to exertion, is flronger 
 than the Emperor's, and (lands as a bulwark be- 
 tween the extremes of defpotiim and them. This 
 body is the Ulama, composed of all the members 
 of the Church and the law, fuperior to any nobi- 
 lity, jealous of their rights and privileges, and 
 partly taken from the people, not by election, but 
 by pro fe fli on and talents.— In this body are com- 
 prifed the Moulahs, the hereditary and perpetual 
 guardians of the religion and laws of the empire : 
 they derive their authority as much as the Emperor 
 fiom the Koian, and. when neceilaiy, a£i with all 
 the firrnnefs reiulting from a conv.&ion of that au- 
 thority ; which they often demonfliate by oppofing 
 his mcafures, not only with impunity, but lucce!;. 
 Their peifons are facred ; and they can, by means 
 of the unbounded relpcft in which they are held, 
 1 «nfe the people to arms, and proceed to depofe. 
 But, what is much more, the Empeior cannot be 
 depoled vvithoat their concurrence. 
 
 If, by this provifion of the constitution, the 
 power of the monarch is limited, and the perfonal 
 fecurity of the (uhj:-6t afcertained, on the one hand ; 
 the energv of the empire in its external cpetations 
 is, on the other, very frequently and iatally pained 
 by it. Declarations of war have been procrasti- 
 nated, till an injurious and irrecoverable : ci of hof- 
 tility has been iuftained ; and peace often protraJSb- 
 ed, when peacr would have teen advantageous. 
 The Ulama being a numcioti body, it nan been 
 found always difficult, often impoflible, 'o uni'e 
 fo many different opinions j ana nufciung being to 
 
AND GOVERNMENT. 165 
 
 be done without their concurrence, the executive 
 power finds it often impoflible to take a decitive 
 ftep in a crifis of advantageous opportunity. But 
 as this code of laws and government is received as 
 a divine revelation, binding both prince and peo- 
 ple, and fupooied to be iealed in Heaven, the 
 breach of it would be fufEcient to confign even the 
 monarch to depofition and death. 
 
 As U) the military force, which in the hands of 
 all Deipots has been made the imtrument of the 
 people's flavery, that of the Tuik could avail him 
 nothing ; and, whenever it does interfere, a£U 
 onlv to his oveithrow. The very reverer.ee they 
 have for his perlon arifing from obedience ;o their 
 religion, they are, a fortiori, governed by if", not 
 him. He holds no communication with them ; 
 and the (landing force of the JaniiTjries is, com- 
 pared with the mats of the people, only a handful. 
 Some wild accounts, indeed, have ftated it at 
 300 : 000 ; but the bed informed fix it beiovV 
 60. coo. of which a great part confifts of falfe mul- 
 ters and sbules — great multitudes being enrolled to 
 obtain ceitain privileges annexed to the office of 
 Janiffary. Tne fact is, that the chief force of the 
 empire is a militia compofed of the people ; who, 
 with reipect to obeaience and fuborriinaiion, are fo 
 looie that they leave their duty whenever they pleafe, 
 without receiving any punifhment. How far the 
 people of Turkey are protected from the encroach- 
 ments of power, will appear from the recital of a 
 fact related by one of the belt and molt liberal of 
 our hiftorians on that fubje&, and which is of too 
 great notoriety to be doubted. 
 
 In the year 1755, the Porte, as it is called, or 
 PaLce of the Grand V.z.'r at Constantinople, was 
 burnt down : in laying the plan for rebuilding it 
 on le form.t (ite, the leading conn dciai tan was, 
 how to con! rive matters Jo a> to re I itcure 
 
 ficai accidents of a like nature in futons i ana it 
 
l66 TURKISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 was determined that the only certain means to c« 
 fo was, to leave a Ipace of cle3r ground all round 
 it, for which purpoie the cont/guous houies fnouid 
 be purchaled from ihe proprietors, and demolished. 
 All the owners of the houfes agreed to the (ale, 
 except one old woman, who pettinaciOdfly refused : 
 fhe faid fhe was born, and had lived all her life, 
 111 that fpot. and would not quit it for any one. 
 Now, in England, for ihe convenience of i pi 
 canal, the P«ili3n>e* I would force her to icil. 
 what did they (ay in Tuilcc) ? When all the p- 
 criod ou>, " Why does not the Sulian uie his au- 
 thority, and take the house, end pay her the va- 
 lue ?" No! aniuered the magtfirates and the 
 Ulama, it is impofiible ! it cannot he done ! it is 
 her property. While the power of the monarch is 
 thus limited, and the rights of the people thus 
 afcertained by the Koran, and in things manil-ft 
 and open to view rigidly adhered to, jufhce be- 
 tween man and man is rarely adminifttied ; for, 
 though the laws themfelves are good, the corrupt 
 adminiflration of them diiarms therr effect, and 
 Giftorts them from their purpofe. The venaTiiy ©f 
 the judges is beyond conception flagitious and bare- 
 faced ; and their connivances at fatfe witneffes fo 
 fcandaloufly habitual, that teflirr.ony is become an 
 article of commerce, and can be procured with a 
 facility and at a price that at once ftamps an appro- 
 brium on the country, and furniOies matter of 
 wnnuer to ;he confederate mind, how, if judges are 
 fl.'gtious and fhamele ! s enough to be guiky of it, 
 the people can bear luch a pernicious fyftem io long. 
 Hence flow alt the cen lures on the laws and govern- 
 ment of thai country — hence mod of the imp 
 ments under which its commerce and agriculture 
 lauguiih ; while the a£haal written Uwi of the realm 
 are, if culy admin iftered, lutHciently adequate io 
 the iecuruy of property, the regulation of com- 
 merce, the repreihon of vice, and \hc pukiiu 
 and prevention of crimes. 
 
D GOVERNMENT. l6y 
 
 In endeavouring to guard your mind againft an 
 illiberal, vulgar prejudice, I have dated to you 
 what tne Turkifh constitution is, and what the 
 laws ; but you muft not carry what I have faid to 
 an ovet drained or forced interpretation. I would 
 not have y©u infer that the people are well govern- 
 ed ; I only fay, that their conftituiion contains 
 within it the means of better government than is 
 fup poled. I would not have you infer that property 
 is always fecure ; I barely fay there are laws written 
 to fecure it. This too I wifh to impreis on you, 
 that the common people are more free, and that pro- 
 perty and life are better fecured, in Turkey, than 
 in fome European countries. I will mention Spain 
 for one. Like the country we are now contempla- 
 ting, fear keeps them, as difunited individuals, un- 
 der pafftve obedience inordinary cafes ; but, unlike 
 the Spaniards, when notorionflv aggrieved : whea 
 their property or religious code is forcibly violated : 
 when the prince would riot in blood, and perfift 
 in an unfucceusful war : the Turks appeal to the 
 law ; they find a ch'ef ; the fo'diery join their 
 ftandarcl, and depole or deftroy him. not on the fu- 
 rious pictext of popular hatred, but upon the legiti- 
 TfiUe ground of the Koran, as an infidel, and a vio- 
 lator of the laws ef God and -Mahomet — They al- 
 ways, however, place his regular fucceffor on the 
 throne. Yet, notwithstanding the generll venality 
 which pollutes the fountains of juftice, and not- 
 withstanding the great abufe of power to which I 
 have alluded, their internal policy is, in many re- 
 fpe£t>, excellent, and may be compared with ad- 
 vantage to that of any nation in Europe. Highway- 
 robberry, houfe-breaking, or pilfering, are little 
 known and rarely pra&ilcd among them ; and at all 
 times the roads are as fecure as the houies. Ample 
 provifions too are made again ft thole petty iecret 
 ftauds which many who carry a fair face in England 
 and would bring an aftion for damages again'ft on 
 
1 68 MORAL CHARACTER 
 
 that fhould call (hem rogues, pra&tfe every day. 
 Bakers are » he mo't frequent victims of j iftice, and 
 are not unfnfqu^ntly teen hanging at their own 
 doors. 1 hcv lr« naui£ted aug baftinadoed for the 
 fiijft aT-d fecQnd offence, and on the third, a itaple 
 isiiiven up inlo then ooor-cafe, 2nd they are 
 hanged fiom '.'. Noiwirhftanding which, men are 
 conftantly t< ody enough 10 purine the fame 
 
 courle of praet. \r. : »rod this ks more exiraordir.uty, 
 as the police is to ftti&ly auiiideo to, that the ba- 
 fhaw or v zi. himteli g • e^ about to diigaile, in 
 ord^r to difcovei r aucls and detctl; the conr.'vances 
 of Hie inic.!..! oftic rs of juftice. Bui what will 
 our gieat la h = -s, Wh© Coniume ineir nights, deftroy 
 their con ft i tut ion, and fquandei then h fb 
 prfepertv in gambling; who afterwards, to repair 
 then (battened finances, have lecouife to the infa- 
 mous expedient of keeping gaming-houles, ana en- 
 deavour to recover by degrading-mean* what they 
 have- 1 oft by fofly-, to the dngrace of thcmielves and 
 family, and the fhaine of then icx and rank — \\ hat 
 will they fay when I tell them, thai gaming is held 
 among the Tuiks to be as infamous as th - ft, and a 
 game ft er looked upon with more deteftatien than a 
 iway robbei ? The Tu'k'fh ambaflador and ns 
 will, on their iciutn to their country, have 
 to teii a cu;;ous tale of this much-famed iflana, 111 
 that and oiKer reflects. 
 
 sacs: 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 ?■ 
 
 REJUDICE, that canker of the hu- 
 man hear*, ha injured mankind by impeding per- 
 ional i. I'c and thereby clogging the cha-ni el 
 
 of intellc&uai improvement : it icibids that inter- 
 
OF THE TURKS. 169 
 
 change of fentiment — that reciprocal communica- 
 tion of opinion — that generous circulation of intel- 
 lectual wealth, which, while it enriches another, 
 advances i tie If — it diiTcvers the bond of lucial un- 
 ion, and makes man fit down the gloomy, felfiiri 
 poffeflor of his own rniferable mite, with too much 
 hatred to give, and too much pride to receive, thole 
 benefits, which Providence, by leaving our nature 
 f'o unaccommodated, has pointed out as neceffary to 
 pafs between man and man : under its influence we 
 ipurn from us the good, if we dill.ke the hand 
 that offers it, and will rather. plunge into the mire 
 than be guided by the light of any one whole opin- 
 ion is at variance with our own. 
 
 Thus it is between the Turks and us — the little 
 of their affairs which the prejudice of the Maho- 
 medans have allowed themielves to communicate, 
 or fuffered others to glean among them, has been 
 in general lo miiufed, dittorted, and m;i ..*.cd 
 
 by the prejudices of the Chrifiians, that it is not 
 going beyond the truth to fay, theie exift not a 
 people in the civilized world yvhofe real hi (lory 
 and genuine fta:e arc io little known as thole of 
 the Tmks : and the woifl of it is, that not one 
 ' milreprefentation, not one tingle miilake htl fallen 
 on the generous, charitable fidt- ; but ail, all with- 
 out exception tcivi to rep re lent the Turk in the 
 mod degraded and deteftabie point 01 view. As 
 the punty of the Chritlian does not allow him to 
 be guilty of a wilful, uncharitable minepu.entation, 
 we mould attrj unavoidable error, were it 
 
 not that, till fpme hie authors whole liberality d 
 them honour, they all walked in the very lame 
 track, and could hirdiy nave been fo uniformly 
 erroneous from defign. We mull therefore atl 
 bu^c it to religious zeal and oiiftak.cn piety ; in 
 Which, in this infr,.aiice alone, they feem to be 
 reputable competitors with, the Turks. The mo- 
 roJericTs, the animofuy, artd the lupercilious ' 
 
 P 
 
170 MORAL CHARACTER 
 
 poflcflion of the bigot, each holds in common with 
 the other. 
 
 One ftriking feature in the conftitution of Tur- 
 key is, that neither blood nor Iplendid birth are of 
 themfelves fufficient to recommend a man to great 
 offices. Merit and abilities alone are the pinions 
 which can lift ambition to its height. The cottager 
 may be exalted to the higheft office in the empire; 
 at lead there is no abfolute impediment in his way ; 
 • nd I believe it has often happened. Compare this 
 with France under its late monarchy, where no 
 merit could raife a man from the Canaille : this, I 
 fay, is one of the criterions of a free conftitution, 
 and Turkey is fo far democratic. 
 
 The very firft principle ingrafted in the minds 
 of the Mahomedan children, is a high contempt of 
 all religions but their own ; and from the minute 
 babes are capable of diftinguifhing, they are taught 
 to call Chriftians by the name of Ghiaour, or Infi- 
 del : this grows up in their manhood lo ftrong in 
 them, that they will follow a Chriftian through the 
 flreets, and even juftle againft him with contempt, 
 crying, Ghiaour! Ghiaour! or, Infidel! I: .fidel .' — 
 Men of dignity and rank, indeed, will treat ChriT- 
 tians with courtefy ; but as loon as they are gone 
 ©ut of hearing, will call them dog ! This is mon- 
 flrous! But let us recollect how a Turk would be 
 treated in Spain or Portugal, and we fhall fee that 
 inhuman bigotry may be found in a greater degree 
 among Chriftians than even Mahomedans. In Spain 
 cr Fortugal they would treat them thus: — the com- 
 mon people would call them hogs ; they would juf- 
 tle them alio in contempt ; and what is more, they 
 would ftab them (it has often happened) por amor 
 dt Dios ; and as to the people of rank, they would 
 very confcientioufly confign them to the Inquifi- 
 tioD, where the pious fathers of the church would 
 very piouQy confign them to the flames, and coolly 
 go to the aitar, and pray to God to damn them 
 
OF THE TURKS. 17 I 
 
 hereafter to all eternity. So far the balance, I 
 think, is in favour of the Turks. Need I go fur- 
 ther ?— I will. — 
 
 The Mahomedans are divided into two fe&s, as 
 the Chriflians are into many. Thofe are the fe6t of 
 Ali, and the feft of Omar. Now, I have never 
 heard among them of one feci burning the other de- 
 liberately: but the Roman Catholics, even now, 
 burn Proteftants by juridical lentence — burn their 
 fellow Chriflians to death for differing from them 
 in a mere fpeculative point of dccVine. Which 
 then are the better men? I am fine it is unneceU 
 iary to (ay : though bad are the beft. 
 
 The Tuiks are allowed, by thofe who know them 
 beft, to have fome excellent qualities; and I think, 
 that in the prodigality of our cenfure, which, tho' 
 flow acquainted with them, we are forward to be- 
 little, it would be but fair to give them credit for 
 many of thofe good qualities, which even among 
 ourfelves it requires the greatefl intimacy and the 
 warmed mutual confidence and efteem to dilclofc 
 or diicover in each other. That they have many 
 vices is certain. What people are they that have 
 not ? Gaming they detefl ; wine they ufe not, or 
 at lead ufe only a little, and that by flealth ; and as 
 to the plurality of women, it can in them be Icarcely 
 deemed a vice, fince their religion allows it. One 
 vice, and one only, of a dark dye is laid to their 
 charge ; and that has been trumpeted forth with 
 the grievous and horrid addition, that though con- 
 tradictory to nature, it was allowed by their reli- 
 gion. This I have reafon to believe is one of the 
 many fabrications and artifices of Chriflian zealots, 
 to render Mahomedanifm more odious : for I have 
 been informed from the moll competent and re- 
 ipe£lable authority, and am therefore perfuaded, that 
 the deteflable crime to which I allude, is forbidden 
 both by the Koran and their municipal laws; that 
 it is openly condemned by all, as with us ; and 
 
1/2 MORAL CHARACTER 
 
 ! hat, though randour mutt allow there are many 
 who practice it (bv the bye there are too many in 
 England w; o ar^ fuppofed to do the fame), there 
 are none hardy cr fhamelefs enough not to endea- 
 vour to eottceali t : and, to flu it. that it is apparently 
 as much reprobated there as any where ; which, at 
 all events, refcues t lis laws and religion of the 
 country from that fl:gma. 
 
 Perhaps there is no part of the world where the 
 flame of parental nfFeelion burns with more, ardent 
 and uijextinguifhable ilrength, or is more faithfully 
 returned bv reciprocal tenciernefs and filial obedi- 
 ence, thnn Tin key. Educated in the mcfl unaffect- 
 ed deference and pious iubmiflion to their parents' 
 wifi ; trained both by precept and example to the 
 greateft veneration for the aged, and !epa ated al- 
 rrr their infancy from the women, they ac- 
 j a modefiv to their fuper:o<s, and a bafhfulnefs 
 il department to the weaker lex, which 
 never eeafe to influence them through life. A Tuik. 
 ing a woman in the flreet. tiVins his head from 
 her. art if looking at her were criminal : 2nd there 
 is nothing they dete.fi; Jo much, 01 will more fedul- 
 ihah an impudent, audacious woman. 
 stter of ?. Tuik tht there i 
 
 irtlier nee*. iT.ry, than to let flip a virago at 
 si iie inftantly retreats. 
 Since the arrival of the Tutkifh an -r in 
 
 London, I have bati frequent occafion to obfefve.. 
 that the people of his* train have been already, by 
 the good example of our Britifh belles arid beaiix, 
 pretty much cafed oi their rational mcdcfly. 
 c::n look at '.lie women with ?s broad and intrepid 
 a fhre, as trie g'ealcil puppy in the metropolis, 
 eir hahftual lei feience fc . 
 
 fair I c it fpeaks much for their manly 
 
 lantry, tnuft be allowed by candour to be can: 
 an exceis extravagant and irrational. It is tn« 
 grcatcft dif^cace lo me chara&er of a Tu 
 
OF THE TURKS. 1 73 
 
 his hand to a woman: this is, doubt'efs, right, 
 with fome limitations ; but they carry it fo far as to 
 allow no provocation, be it what it may, iufficient 
 to juftify ufing force or ftrokes to a woman ; the 
 utmoft they can do is, to fcold and walk off. The 
 confequence of this is, that the women often run 
 into the moll violent excefles. There have been 
 inftances where they have been g a i h y of the mod 
 furious outrages ; where they have violated the 
 laws in a collected body, and broke open public 
 ftores of corn laid up by the government : the ma- 
 gistrates attended, the Janiflaries were cailed, and 
 came running to quell the riot — but, behold they 
 were women who committed it : they knew no 
 way of refilling them, unlefs by force ; and force 
 they could not ufe : fo the ladies were permitted 
 quietly to do their work in defiance of magiftrates, 
 law, right, and rea(on. 
 
 Among the variety of errors and moral abfurdi- 
 tirs faliely afcribed to the Mahomedan religion, the 
 exc'ulion of women from Paradile holds a vciy 
 conspicuous place, as a charge equally falfe and ab- 
 furd ; on the contrary, the women have their fails, 
 their ablutions, and the other religious rites deem- 
 ed bv Mahomedans nec«(Tary to ialvation. Not- 
 withstanding, it has been the practice of travellers 
 to have recourfe to invention, where the cufloms 
 of the country precluded pofitive information ; 
 and to give their accounts rather from the fuggefti- 
 ons of their own prejudiced imagination, than from 
 any fair inferences or conclufions drawn from the 
 facts that came under their observation. 
 
 P 1 
 
174 TURKISH MORALS 
 
 LET r E R XXX. 
 
 r, 
 
 HE fuly -61 I touched upon in my lad: 
 three leers, and on which this, and probably Tome 
 Jliccc: s, w:ll turn, is attended with cir- 
 
 ftanc«f o{ gieat delicacy, and may pofiibly bear 
 the afpect of at lea ft a dubious import, as touching 
 the great point of religion. I will therefore, be- 
 fore I proceed further, explain to you (left it 
 quite explanation) the whole icope of my 
 
 [eel throughout the whole of what I have 
 
 faid lefpe&ing the Turks, is to war with prejudice,. 
 
 r.oi to draw companions : — lo fhew that where the 
 
 s aie vicious or en (laved, it is not the 
 
 n or their laws: — to convince 
 
 Tmks arc not the only people in the 
 
 woilu. v. ho. under ail the external fo:ms of fancti- 
 
 tv a:, on, are capable of the mod deteftable 
 
 te$, uuerly bereft of all pre- 
 
 t.-i r.OA3 i • t i3 i ; t y — :t;d t'-, b t. while they have been 
 
 pcrpetua) luhjrcl: of reproach and ac- 
 
 . they were combining, only jjuli the fame 
 
 pence might lave jetoitedon their 
 
 lowance can be at all made for hif- 
 
 . we may perhaps be diipo- 
 
 f cc j t pi . :iat of t:- ignorant Catholic mi ill- 
 
 bnaries of the e. s, as entitled to iome excuie, 
 
 Toe intemperate zeal of 
 
 the fall exerciie of the rational 
 
 I ics : but in this ngc of illumination and libe- 
 
 .. he that falfifies from polemical malice {hould 
 
 meet little quartet and lei's belief. And it mull be 
 
 ten of viitueand religion to rcJ 
 
ASD RELIGION. 175 
 
 tint churchmen, difciples of the Chriftan church, 
 which mould be the fountain of purijy and truth, 
 have been fotemoft in the lift of falfifiers. 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining information of any 
 kind in Turkey, is very great ; of their religion 
 chiefly they are extremely tenacious ; and as to their 
 women, it is allowed by the bed informed men, 
 who have li'.vl there for manv yeais, in departments 
 of life that gave them the be ft means of obtaining 
 information Eurooeans an have, thai, at bell:, but a 
 very imperfect knowledge can be had of them. Yet 
 travellers who probably never migrated farther than 
 " ftom the green bed to the b:own," have given us 
 diffule accounts of their religion ; and adventurers 
 who never were beyond the purlieus of Drury, 
 have fcaled Seraglio walls, and cairied off the favo- 
 rites of Sultans. 
 
 The truth is, my dear Frederick, the Tusks,- 
 like all other people, have their {hare of vices, but 
 are by no means countenanced in them by their re- 
 ligion ; and from what 1 have been able 10 colleft, 
 as well from my own inquiries ?.nd obi'ei vations, a-s 
 iror$ reading the beft h; dorian s, I am psrluaded 
 thai they have not, in the whole icope of I\lahome- 
 daniim, one do&nne fo fubverfive of virtue, or fo> 
 encouraging to the indulgence of vice, as many that 
 ate to be found in that curious code, Popery. 
 
 The mahce of oar inlempeiate zealots againfl; 
 Mahomed aniim has been of courle extended to its 
 founder with more than common exaggeration and 
 additions. They have represented M ah ©met to bs 
 a man of mean oiign, potyefllng a mind unenlight- 
 ened by fciencc or literaiuie, and an underftauding 
 and faculties naturally grofs. All thole fuggedions 
 aie undoubtedly falie ; — he fpiung f;om tHe mod 
 noble of all the Arabian tribes — the Corailhites : at 
 his time, poverty, lo far from be.ng a reproach 
 among them, was a mark of every tumg thai was 
 <i'c*t und dignified, if kipported wirh magrfcmmity 
 
Ij6 TURKISH MORALS 
 
 and fortitude ; and the two firft caliphs lived as 
 poor as Mahomet himfelf. although they had im- 
 menfe revenues, commanded vaft armies, and were 
 lords of gteat provinces. As to his underflanding 
 1 can only fay, that perhaps he was the very lafl man 
 in the world whofe intellectual powers fhould be 
 called in queftion. His genius was unbounded, 
 his fpirit enterprifing, his powers of addrefs were 
 unequalled, he was allowed to be the greateft ora- 
 tor of his time ; and yet, with all theie qualifica- 
 tions, his underftanding was flighted. It is a logi- 
 cal truth, that when people prove loo much, they 
 prove nothing at all : our Chriitian zealots, in this 
 inflance, have overfhot the mark, and thereby 
 rendered all their other information at lealr. doubt- 
 ful. Perhaps the coniummation of all policy was 
 Mahomet's pretending to be an id ot, in order to 
 make his great and wonderful effufions appear to 
 be the immediate infpiration of Heaven — He call- 
 ed bimielf the Idiot Prophet.* 
 
 The whole of Mahomedanifm may be reduced 
 {imply to this one article of faith — " There is but 
 one God, and Mahomet is the prophet ;" but 
 upon this they have fuperinduced. from time to 
 time, fuch a variety of ablurdities as would require 
 volumes to delcjibe : however, in fit ft candour let 
 us reflect., and afk our own hearts the que {lion, 
 "whether fprinkling with holy water, or worlhipping 
 a bit of white wafer as God, can be exceeded, or 
 are lels abfurd than trie ^etiodicai ablutions of the 
 Turks, or their going on a pilgrimage to Mecca ? 
 
 With regard to the women, I have faid before 
 that the belt information we can obtain is very im- 
 porfeft; all I have been able to coiltct, you (hall 
 have. They cie foimed in a ftyte of the moil ex- 
 q lifite fymmetry, particularly about ihe cheft and 
 Dofom : they Lave delicate fkins, regular features, 
 black hair and eyes> and are, above aii other beings, 
 • Mohammed. 
 
AND RELIGION. 177 
 
 cleanly and neat in their perfons, bathing twice a 
 day regularly, befides on other occafions, and not 
 fuffeving even the (mallei! hair to remain upon their 
 bodies. Thev are keot in the mod rigoious con- 
 finement, and only perfons of ill fame paint. Wo- 
 men of character are there chafle — nor is their 
 chaftity to be attributed to reftraint merely, for, 
 from their infancy they are trained to difcretion and 
 (elf-fubjeclion, and the modefty natural to the lex 
 is chenfhed from its fir ft dawnings. When they 
 grow up, they are nor, like our women here, fub- 
 j~£tcd to the contagion of infamous gallantry; nei- 
 ther are the men trained to, nor do they priele 
 themielves, like fome among us, on the arts of de- 
 duction. In fact, that practice makes no part o-f 
 the accomplifhrnents of their fine gentlemen ; nay, 
 it is held by them to be infamous. There are no 
 fiich characters to be found in Turkey as your box- 
 lubby loungers — none of your upPurt cubs like 
 tliofe who doucllc the beft part of the day through 
 rail-Malt, St. James's- fi.ree\ and Bond-itreet ; who, 
 without birth, wealth, education, or parts, fancy 
 ihemfelves fine fellows, and powder their nofes in 
 I.idies' head-d ire fifes, whimpering them in order to get 
 the reputation of gallantry ; who ilsut like Bantam 
 : r -, and affum.c a fierce air to conceal their con- 
 fcious want of (pint ; and dreiled in a iuit of regi- 
 mentals ho;;ght by papa, at maau's requ.eft, to ex- 
 hibit fweel Mafler jscky to advantage in the Park — ■ 
 though nevei to He lolled with gunpowder, or 
 fona^ed with a bait in the nafly field of battle! 1 ! — 
 my dear Frederick, I have often told you that 
 you (hall make choice of yow own profefTion. If 
 you should chooie any of the learned profeffions, 
 you may fail in it without difhonour ; for many of 
 the jbleft men have failed before : but, maik m: i 
 avoid the military as you wo Ud ruin, unjefc you 
 have the requih.es ; let not the glitter of a leailet 
 coa.^ or the empty na&e oi a f«iaTer ? fcinpt you to 
 
178 
 
 TURKISH MORALS 
 
 be like one of thofe miferable animals I have de- 
 scribed. There may be charafters more wicked — I 
 know none Jo utteily contemptible. 
 
 All extremes aie bad : but the exceedings of 
 virtue ever, where they mn into error, are flill 
 preferable to vice. However luclricous it may ap- 
 pear, we cannot absolutely defpife or condemn the 
 prudery of the Tuikifh women, though it runs 
 into (uch extravagance, that, when feeding their 
 poultry, they keep carefully vieled if there hap- 
 pens to be a cock among them, fo faitidioufly 
 avetie are they to the odious male creature feeing 
 their pretty facei. 
 
 When the circumftances under which the Tur- 
 kifti women fland are considered, it mult appear 
 amazing, that chaflity, from principle, is univerfal 
 among them, as it is confeffed to be : the nature of 
 man urges him to defire, wiih greatell ardour, that 
 which is moft forbidden ; and women whoaie much 
 confined, may well be fuppofed to have their paf- 
 fions inflamed by the exaggerated workings of the 
 imagination. Infidelity, however, to the marriage- 
 bed, is much leis frequent among the men there, 
 than among true women here ; and the tide or fafh- 
 ion. which in this conntry gives iuch a rapid and 
 JrreTiftible circulation to vice and adulteiy, runs 
 there in an oppofite direction j and contrary to our 
 cufloms, no man is fo unfafhionable in luikey as 
 lie that has interrupted the domeftic peace of a fa- 
 mily by fedu&ion. 
 
 Among the many virtues which may with drift 
 juftice be aictibed to the Turks, hofpitality holds a 
 conspicuous place. It is not confined to common 
 civility, it extends to perfonal protection. Many 
 deem it absolutely their duty to rifk their lives in 
 defence of their gu fts •, nor will any motive, how- 
 ever cogent, be allowed to jufhfy the violation of 
 it. Nay, to fuck a fyftem M it carried up, that an 
 engagement with a (hanger 1$ accepted as an exculc 
 
AND RELIGION. 179 
 
 for not obeying the fummons of a great man, when 
 no other apology, not even lhat of indilpofuion, 
 would be admitted. 
 
 While the Turks abhor and defpife all other re- 
 ligions but their own, their government is by no 
 means intolerant in fpiritual concerns. The exer- 
 cife of all religions is free, and at Constantinople 
 (we are told) Monks drefs in their habits, and arc 
 allowed at funeral pi oce Axons to elevate the crofs, 
 which is more than the Engiifh tyranny allowed 
 the Roman Catholics of Ireland to do, till very 
 lately : a Turk r however, convi&ed of apoflacy, 
 could not by any. means elcape death. Meantime 
 it muft be oblerve c d, that if they keep up a decent 
 femblance or the forms of their religion, no intru- 
 five inquiry is made unto their real faith : and 
 though it is one of the injunctions of Mahomet to 
 endeavour to convert unbelievers, and they iome- 
 times in obedience to that command lolicit the con- 
 version of Chriftians and others ; they never fail 
 to confider any renegado, or perfon who becomes 
 a convert, with contempt, if not diiT.ke. 
 
 I will conclude this letter with an ex'ra& from 
 that moft valuable and accuiate work, Ruffei's Hift- 
 ory of Aleppo, which will give you a better, be- 
 caule a true, notion of Tuikiih morals, than vu 
 are likely to receive from general opinion. " 
 on the whole," fays he, " whethei it be afjeribed to 
 the influence of their political confti'.ution, or. to 
 the abfence of various temptations, which i.i Eu- 
 rope often lead to the violation ol bev:er laws ; 
 are perhaps few great cities where many oJ 
 private and domeflic virtues aie in general more 
 prevalent than at Aleppo." 
 
l3b VINDICATION OF THE 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 JL PIE ufe of periodical Hated times of de- 
 votion is univerfally admitted, and the neceflity 
 of adopting them makes a part of the Chriftian code. 
 The Mahomedan religion, however, exceeds it 
 far in the rigid attention to, and frequency of, de- 
 votion. There are no leis than five flated times 
 of prayer in evety twenty four hours, fixed as in- 
 dilpenlable, at none of which a true believer fails ; 
 and the fervency of their praying exceeds even th« 
 frequency, i have heard it aliened, that if the 
 houl'e Mas to take fire while they are at their devo- 
 tion, they would not break off ; and io rigidly in- 
 tent do they conceive it their duty to be during 
 the time of prayer, that if in the mid ft of it they 
 were interrupted by a fit of lneenng or co.ughing, 
 they confhier all already done as gone for nothing, 
 s begin them again. And to tell a truth 
 cf them, if the Chriftians cutle thern, they aie pret- 
 ty even with them in leturn, never failing to t >ray 
 for ciiico/d, enmity, and diffenfion among the r 
 enemies, as well as health and proipenty to them- 
 jfelves ; and to the efficacy of thoie prayers they 
 fondly attribute all the wars and di (Tenuous which 
 inceffantly harafs Chriftendom. A bell tolls as a " 
 public notice of prayer ;. and when a true JvJdhome- 
 dan hears it, let him be where he will, whether at 
 home or abroad, in the highway or In the market, 
 be the place dirty or clean, wet or dry, he imme- 
 ditely tails down and woiihips. 
 
 As lubfidiary to prayer they have their ablutions, 
 in which they are full asfcrupuloufly punctual as in, 
 their piayers. Gne is piepaiaiciy to prayer, another 
 
TURKS CONTINUED. l8i 
 
 after cohabitation with women, a third before eat- 
 ing, and another again t incidental. Thole they 
 never negleft to perform, unlels tome innumerable 
 obftacle lie* in the way. Charity, that mod glo- 
 rious doctrine of any religion, is enjoined by the 
 TCoran under the mod heavy denunciation of hea- 
 venly vengeance, in cafe of neglect; and by it 
 they are charged to regard no bounds in liberality 
 to the poor. Many MulTuImen in their zeal to 
 difcharge this duty have given a fourth, many a 
 third, and fome one half of their property. Nay, 
 the inftances are not unfrequent of men giving 
 away their all, and living afterwards themielves 
 upon alms. To do drift juftice it mud be laid, 
 that poverty is no where lo relpeetfully attended to, 
 honoured, or reverenced, as among the Mahome- 
 tans ; who have a laying among them, " that the 
 fear of want is a mark of the judgment of God." 
 
 Abftinence is considered as a virtue among them, 
 and very ftriclly enjoined as a religious duty. The 
 great fail appointed by the Koran continues for the 
 inonth. of Ramedan, during which time they nei- 
 ther eat, drink, nor converfe with their wives, 
 from fun-rile till the dars appear, or the lamps are 
 hung out at the moiques. Any man who breaks it 
 is punifhed with deaih ; but the worft of it is, that 
 they will not ahow even travellers, the lick or the 
 woanded, to plead a ugh: to exemption : fome of 
 the Turks, however, and all the Chndians, have 
 hit upon expedients to pats the month without 
 much mortification ; that is, deeping in bed all day, 
 ana lilting up and caroufing all nignt, to evade tne 
 reitramt. 
 
 The foft ^nd greated ordinance of their religion 
 is the pilgrimage to Mecca. which when once ac- 
 complished .is iuppoied to be a dire it paifpott to 
 Heaven ;vand thete are few of them who do not a 
 one time or other of their lives take mat painful 
 and hazardous journey. As thU is a very imeieit- 
 
l32 VINDICATION OF THE 
 
 ing journey, however, to travel in the cUfet, as it 
 includes the defcription of a caravan, and ferves to 
 ihew to what extremeties enthuftalm can influence 
 men, I will give you a defcription of it as handed 
 to me by a very accurate and ingenious perlon, on 
 v. i.cfe precile veracity I can rely ; fird making lorne 
 remaiks upon the preceding part of this letter. 
 
 You will obferve from what I have already faid, 
 that, excepting the mere points of religious faith, 
 the moral ordinances of Mahomedaniim compre- 
 hend mod of thole parts of the Chridian religion, 
 on the practice of which the reputation of piety is 
 founded ; and that for drift obedience to thofe 
 ordinances the Mahoraedans are more remarkable 
 than we are. Adultery is not frequent among 
 them ; wine is feldom or never ufed ; theft is little 
 known j io is murder. Then in the practical parts 
 of devotion, there are in the fir ft place prayers; 
 fecondly, abdinence or fading ; thirdly, charity. 
 Thofe are all Chriftian doctrines, more eealoufly 
 obierved by them than by us. Their ablutions aic 
 at lead no injury to the caufe of morality or piety ; 
 but raiher, being done as a religious exercife, ferve 
 to keep up the ienes of intercourie which fhould 
 ftibfift between the creature and his Creator : be- 
 fides, 1 cannot help thinking with our inimitabla 
 poet Thomfon, that 
 
 from the body's purity, the mind 
 
 Receives a fecret fympathetic aid. Seasons — Summer. 
 
 And as to the pilgrimage to Mecca, however ina- 
 tional it may appear to us, it is at lead recommended 
 by fincerity and z~a!, and is doubtlcls in the eye of 
 an Bii.-feeing Providence meritorious. He, we aie 
 to fuppofe, will judge, not by the value of the act, 
 but the purity of the motive; and will accept it 
 as the offering of a frail, blind mortal, bending in 
 obedience to that which he conceives to be the will 
 of Heaven. Refides, for the life of me I cannot 
 fee why a pilgrimage to Mecca is at all more culpa- 
 
TURKS CONTINUED. 183 
 
 ble than a pilgrimage to Jerufalem ; not to mention 
 the tboufand other holy places to which well-mean- 
 ing Chriftians go, for their foul's fake, at imminent 
 hazard of their lives, and certain mortification and 
 hardfhip to their bodies. 
 
 Ban ifh then, my Frederick! banifh from your 
 heart all illiberal and uncharitable prejudices, if any 
 have yet found their way to it. Revere and cling 
 to your religion as "the bed: and mod conducive to 
 eternal and temporal happinefs ; and the more good 
 becaule it enjoins us to be charitable even to the 
 Jews as well as to the Gentiles : but never think 
 that you advance the caufe of that religion, or do 
 fervice to your God, by waging war agninft your 
 fellow-creatures for opinions they can no more help 
 entertaining than you can help having yours, or by 
 denouncing againft them that eternal lenience which 
 reds with the Almighty alone to judge of or to pro- 
 nounce. 
 
 To a benevolent mind the animofities of mankind 
 prefent a mod afR : c~ting picture; and the frivolous 
 pretexts upon which thole animofities are grounded 
 render it only the more horrible. One would think 
 that the fubftantial traffic of life, and the flrugglc 
 of mankind for the fuperfluities of it. of themfelves 
 afforded ample materials for Icufflc, without refort- 
 ing to the fhadows of fpeculation for contention. 
 Yet experience has (hewn us that opinion is a much 
 more copious fource of animofity and warfare ; and 
 that for one man who has been curled, murdered, 
 or deflroyed by his fellow-creatures in a contefl for 
 property, there are a thoufand who have fallen la- 
 crifices to the vengeance of hofhlc opinion. 
 
 Were it poffible that I could obtain from the 
 bounty of Heaven a grant ef the firft wifh of my 
 heart, that wifh. fhould be to fee all mankind in 
 haimony and mutual good will, ranging without 
 diftinction under the one great name of man and 
 brother. As thote who foment the dilunion be- 
 
184 VINDICATION OF THE TURKS, &c. 
 
 tween them are the mod pernicious wonders of 
 fociety, fo he who endeavours to bring them one 
 ftep nearer to a gencial accommodation of fentiment, 
 who drives to inculcate the principles of mutual 
 toleration, and encourage the growth of reciprocal 
 aft\.ftion between men as fellow beings, may be 
 judly ranked among the befl friends of mankind, 
 and the mod faithful fervants of Him who gave 
 being to all. 
 
 Among the grofs mifreprefentations of which I 
 complain, and which for the lake of mankind I 
 lament, is that general faliehood, the infidelity of 
 theTurkifh women. The refpe&able author whom 
 I have before taken the freedom of quoting, I 
 mean Dr. RuflM, declares that in twenty years re- 
 (idence at Aleppo, he did not remember a public 
 inftance of adultery ; and that in the piivate walks 
 of fcandal the fa he heaid of were among the low- 
 er! claf 5, and did not in number exceed a dozen. 
 i; In refpeft to the Franks (continues be) the un- 
 dertaking is attended not only with luch rifk to the 
 individual, but may i-n its eon'equences Co Jerioufly 
 involve the whole fettlement, that it is either ne- 
 ver attempted, or is concealed with a iecrecy un- 
 exampled in other matters. I have reaion to be- 
 lieve that Euiopean travellers have lometimes had 
 a Greek courtelan impoied on them for a iultana ; 
 and after having been heartily frightened, have 
 been induced to pay fmartly, in order to prelerve 
 a fecret which the day after was known to half the 
 fiil-rrhood in town." He remarks, however, that 
 at Conflaniinople the flate of gallantry is different* 
 
 On the fubjeft of the Turkiih moral char after, 
 I have endeavouied to be as concrie as jutlice 
 would allow me to be ; and yet I find that 1 have 
 gone to !ome length. I cannot however difmiis it 
 without giving you a trait to which the mod obfti- 
 nate polemical prejudice, and the mod inveterate 
 haired, muik in ipite of them pay the tribute of 
 
DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN. 185 
 
 applaufe. Their treatment to their flaves is beyond 
 ail example among us humane, tender, and gene- 
 rous, and luch as may well bring a blufh into the 
 faces of Chriftian dealers in human flofh. When, 
 young (laves, male or female, are bought by a 
 Turk, they feem to be introduced into the family 
 rather in the condition of an adopted child ; they 
 receive the fame education, perform nearly the 
 fame offices, and are bound to no greater marks of 
 refpeft than their mafter's own children — and in 
 fa£t feel none of the galling circumftances of a (late 
 of fervility ; the very word treatment they ever re-^ 
 ceive is to be put on a footing with the menial do- 
 medics, or ordered to the lame duty as a valet or a 
 page. It olten happens, on the other hand, that 
 they are married into the family, and very fre- 
 quently are promoted to high offices in the date. 
 If they adopt the religion of their mailers, it is 
 always fpontaneouily ; and even to flaves taken in 
 war, no compulfion is ufed to make them change 
 their faith. 
 
 The following is the bed defciiption I am able 
 to give you of an Ejdern caravan. It exactly co- 
 incides with my own observations, and with the 
 various accounts I have had from others. I owe 
 it, as well as the account of the proceedings of the 
 pilgiims at Mecca, to the kind offices of a friend, 
 who took the pains to procure them for me. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN. 
 
 Jndofed in the preceding Letter, 
 
 A CARAVAN, which is Co often mentioned in 
 
 the hiltory and defcription of the Ead, and in all 
 
 the tales and dories of thoie countries, is an aiTem- 
 
 blage of travellers, partly pilgrims, pat tiy merchants, 
 
 .who collect together in order to conlolidate a i'uf- 
 
lS6 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN*. 
 
 ficieit force to protect them, in travelling through 
 the hideous wilds and burning delerts over which 
 y arc conftrained to pals for commercial and 
 cr purpofes : thofe wilds being infefted with 
 »bs, who make a profeflion of pillage, and rob 
 In moft formidable bodies, fome a!mo(t as large as 
 mall armies. As the collection of luch a number 
 Requires time, and the embodying of them is a ieri- 
 ous concern, it is concerted with great care and 
 preparation, and is never attempted without the 
 per mi (lion of the prince in whole dominions it is 
 to be formed, and of thole alfo through whole do- 
 minions it is to pais, expreiTed in writing. The 
 exacl number of men end carriages, mules, horles, 
 and other bea Its of burthen, are Ipeeified in the 
 licenle; and the merchants to whom the caravan 
 belongs, regulate and direft every thing appertain- 
 ing'to its government and police during the journey, 
 'and appoint the various officers neceffaiy for con- 
 ducing it. 
 
 Each caravan has four principal officers : the firft, 
 the caravanbachi, or head of the caravan ; the fe- 
 co'nd, the captain of the march •, the third, the 
 captain of the flop or reft ; and the fourth, the 
 captain of the distribution. The firft has the un- 
 contrclable authority and command over all the 
 others, and gives, them his orders : the fecond is 
 abfolute during the march ; but his authority imme- 
 diately ceales on the (topping or encamping of the 
 caravan, when the third affumes his fhare of the 
 authority, and exerts it during the time of its re- 
 maining at reft: and the fourth orders the dilpofi- 
 tion of every part of the caravan, in -cafe of an 
 attack or battle. This laft officer has alio during 
 the march the infpe£tion and direction of the dis- 
 tribution of -provifions, which is conducted under 
 his management by leveral inferior officers, who are 
 obliged to give fecurity to the mafter of the cara- 
 van ; each of them having the care of a certaia 
 
DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN 1 . 187 
 
 numbei of men, elephants, dromedaries, camels, 
 Sec. Sec. which they undertake to conduft and fur- 
 nifh with provifions at thei' own ri'que, accord- 
 ing to an agreement ftipulated between them. 
 
 A fifth officer of the caravan is the pay-mafter or 
 treafurer, who has under him a great many clerks 
 and interpreters, appointed to keep accurate jour- 
 nals of all the material incidents that occur upon 
 the journey. And it is by thefe journals, figned 
 by the fuperior officers, that the owners of the ca- 
 ravan judge whether they have been well or ill 
 ferved or conducted. 
 
 Another kind of officers are the mathematicians, 
 without whom no caravan will preiume to fet out. 
 There are commonly three of them attached to a ca- 
 ravan of large fize ; and they perform the offices 
 both of quarter-mailers and aides-de-camp, leading 
 the troops when the caravan is attacked, and affign- 
 ing the quarters where the caravan is appointed to 
 encamp. 
 
 Tnere are no lefs than five diftinft forts of cara- 
 vans; fir ft, the heavy caravans, which are compoi- 
 ed of elephants, dromedaries, camels and horles ; 
 iecondly, the light caravans, which have but few 
 elephants ; thirdly, the common caravans, where 
 there are none of thofe animals ; fourthly thehorfc 
 caravans, where there are neither dromedaries nor 
 camels ; and laflly, fea caravans, con filling of vef- 
 iels ; from whence you will obf^rve that the w®rd 
 caravan is not confined to the land, but extends to 
 the water alio. 
 
 The proportion obferved in the heavy caravan is 
 as follows : When there are five huudred ele- 
 phants, they add a thoufand dromedaries and two 
 thoufand horles at the ieaft : and then the efcort is 
 corn po fed of four thculand men on horfeback. 
 Two men are required for leading one elephant, 
 five for three dromedaries, and leven for eleven cam- 
 els. Tki$ multitudaof fervants, together with the 
 
I 88 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN. 
 
 cfficeis and palTengers, whofe number is uncertain, 
 fiive to lupport the efcort in caie of a fight, and 
 render the caravan more formidable and lecure. 
 The palTengers are not absolutely obliged to fight ; 
 nut according to the laws and ulagesof the caravans, 
 if they refulc to do lb, they are not entitled to any 
 provifions whatever from the caiavan, even though, 
 they fhould agree to pay an extravagant price for 
 them. 
 
 Every elephant is mounted by what they call a 
 n:ck : that is to fay, a young lad of nine or ten 
 years old, brought up to the bufinefs, who drives 
 the elephant, and pricks it with a pointed iron to 
 animate it in the fight; the fame lad alio loads the 
 fire-arms of the two ioldiers wHb mount the ele- 
 phant, with him. 
 
 The day of the caravan felting out being once 
 fixed, is never altered or poftponcd ; Co that no 
 difappointment can poiTibly enlue to any one. 
 
 One would fuppofe th-.u fo enormous and power- 
 ful a body, fe well armed, tpigrrf be certain of mov- 
 ing forward without fear of being robbed ; but as 
 raoft of the Arabian princes have no other means 
 to fubfrft but by their, robberies, they keep fpies 
 in all parts, who give them notice when the cara- 
 vans let out, which they way-lay ; and (ometime* 
 attack with fuperior force, overpower them, plun- 
 der them of all th^ir ticalure, and make flaves of 
 the whole convoy — foreigners excepted, to whom 
 they generally ilirw more mercy. If they are re- 
 pulled, they generally come to lome agreement ; 
 the conditions of which are pretty well obierved, 
 efpectally if the aiTidants are native Arabians. The, 
 carrying on of rotberiss with loch armies may ap- 
 pear aftunifhmg ; but when the temptation is con- 
 sidered, and when it is known that one caravan 
 only is iometimes enough to enrich thoie prince?, 
 much of our lurprife vanifhes. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN, l $9 
 
 They are obliged to ufe great precautions to pre- 
 vent the caravan from introducing ' that dreadful 
 diftemper, the plague, into the places through which 
 they pafs, or from being themfelves infe&ed with 
 it. When therefore they arrive near a town, th« 
 inhabitants of the town and the people of the ca- 
 ravan hold a folemn conference concerning the 
 ftate of their health, and very fineerely communi- 
 cate to each other the ftate of the cafe, candidly 
 informing each other whether there be danger on 
 either fide. — When there is reafon to fufpeel: any 
 contagious diftemper, they amicably agr«e that no 
 communication whatever fhall take place between 
 them ; and if the caravan ftanda in need of provi- 
 fions, they are conveyed to them with the utmoft 
 caution over the walls of the town. 
 
 The fatigues, hardfhtps, and hazards, attending 
 thofe caravans, are fo great, that they certainly 
 would never be undertaken, if the amazing profits 
 did not in fome meafure counterbalance them.— 
 The merchant who travels in them muft be con- 
 tent with luch provifions as he can get, muft part 
 with al! his delicacies, and give up all hope of eafe ; 
 he muft fubmit to the frightful confufion of lan- 
 guages and nations; the fatigues of long marches 
 over fands, and under a climate almoft fufHcientiy 
 hot to reduce him to a cinder : he muft fubmit 
 cheerfully to exorbitant duties fraudulently levied, 
 and audacious robberies and lubtle tricks pratliled 
 by the herd of vagabonds who follow the caiavans 
 — for preventing which, the merchants have a va- 
 riety of well contrived locks, that can only be 
 opened by thoie who know the knack of them. 
 
 B it in tome tracks of caravans there are dangers, 
 and horrible ones againft which no human fore fight 
 or power can provide, and beneath which whole 
 caravans fink, and are never after heard of. 
 
 The Egyptian caravans are particularly iubje6f. to 
 hazards in the horrid tracks they are neceilanly 
 
Jcp DESCRIPTION" OF A CARAVAN. 
 
 obliged to take through fand) defer's, where, for 
 boundlefs extents, nature has denied one fingle 
 circumftance of favour; where a blade of grafs ne- 
 ver grew, nor a drop of water ever ran ; where the 
 icoiching fire of the fun has banifhed the kindly 
 influence of the other elements : where, for feve- 
 ral days journey, no objsft meets the eye to guide 
 the parched traveller in his way ; and where the 
 cafual track of one caravan is doled by the moving 
 fands, before another can come to take advantage 
 of it. In thole vair plains of burning fands, if 
 the guide fhould happen to lofe his way. the pro- 
 vifion of water, fo neceffary to carry them to the 
 place where they 3re to find more, mud infallibly 
 fail them : in fuch a cafe the mules and bodes di« 
 with fatigue and third ; and even the camels, n'*f- 
 withftanding their extraordinary power to fubf. d 
 without water, foon perlfl? in the fame manner, 
 together with the people of the caravan, wander- 
 ing in thofe frightful deferts. 
 
 But more dreadful ftill, and dill more inevitable, 
 is the danger when a fouth wind happens to rife in 
 thofe fandy deferts. The lead mifchicf it occafions 
 is, to dry up the leathern ba^s which contain the 
 provifion of water for ihe journey. This wind, 
 to which the Arabs give the epithet of poiioned, 
 often ftifles in a moment thofe who have the mis- 
 fortune to meet it ; to prevent which, they are 
 obliged to throw themieives immediately on the 
 ground, putting their faces clofe to the burning 
 fasds which iurround them on all fides, and cox- 
 ing their mouths with fome linen cloth, left by 
 breathing they fhould {"wallow indantaneous death, 
 which 1 his wind carries with it wherever it ex- 
 tends. — Bcfides which, whole caravans are cfien 
 buried under moving hi' Is of burning land, railed 
 by 'he agitation of the winds. 
 
 All thofe horrors and dangers are fo exquifitely 
 described by our charming bard Thomson, thai I 
 
DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN. 191 
 
 cannot refrain tranfcribing the pafTige, as bringing 
 them more immediately home to the understanding 
 and the heart, than volumes of common defcrip- 
 tion could do. 
 
 — — Breathed hot 
 
 From all the boundlels furnace of the fky, 
 
 And the wide glittering walle of burning (and, 
 
 A luffocating wind the pilgrim i'mites 
 
 With inftant death. Patient of third and toil, 
 
 Son of the Delert ! even the camel feels, 
 
 Shot through his withered heart, the fiery blaft. 
 
 Or from the black-red either buritmg broad 
 
 Sallies the fudden wirlwind. Straight the fands, 
 
 Commov'd around, in gathering eddies play ; 
 
 Nearer and nearer flill they darkening come ; 
 
 Till, v\ ith the general all-involving ftdrm 
 
 Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arife; 
 
 And by their noon-day fount dejecled thrown, 
 
 Or funk, at night in fad difaftrous flcep 
 
 Beneath defcending hills, the caravan 
 
 Is buried deep. In Caro's crowded ftreets 
 
 Th' impatient Merchant wondering waits in vain, 
 
 And Mecca faddens at the long delay. — 
 
 Yet, notwithfbanding all thofe horrible circumftan- 
 ces of terror and danger — trade, and the defne of 
 gain, on the one hand, induce multitudes of people 
 to run the hazard. 
 
 Impiger extremos currit Mercator ad Indos, 
 
 Per marc pauperiem fugiens, per iaxa, per ignes. 
 
 Horace. 
 
 And on the other hand, enthulialm and religious 
 zeal tend thouiands 10 tempt their fate, and take a 
 paffage to Heaven through thole horrid regions. 
 Thus we fee in what various ways delufion ope- 
 rates. — The merchant might find a livelihood, and 
 the bigot his way to divine favour, jull as well tey 
 flaying within the confines of their own native 
 home. 
 
192 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN, 
 
 ACCOUKT OF THE CEREMONIES OBSERVED Br 
 PILGRIMS ON THEIR ARRIVAL AT MECCA. 
 
 The caravans are generally To ordered, as to arrive 
 at Mecca about forty days after the Faft of Ramedan, 
 and immediately previous to the Corban, or Grea: 
 Sacrifice. Five or fix days before that feftival, the 
 three great caravans, viz. that from Europe, that 
 from Aha Minor, and that from Arabia, unite ; and 
 all, confiding of about two hundred thouiand men, 
 and three hundred thouiand beafts of burthen, en- 
 camp at fome miles from Mecca. The pilgrims 
 form themlelves into fmall detachments, and enter 
 the town to arrange the ceremonies preparatory to 
 the Great Sacrifice. They are led through aftreet 
 of continual afcent, till they arrive at a gate on an 
 eminence, called the Gate of Health. From thence 
 they fee the gi eat mofque which inclofes the Houie 
 of Abraham. They ialute it with the moft pro- 
 found refpe£l and devotion, repeating iwice, " Sa- 
 lam Alek Irufoui Allah !'" that is to iay, ;i Peace be 
 with the AmbafTidor of Gcd !" Thence, at fome 
 diilance, they mount five fteps to a large platform 
 faced with ftone, where they offer up their pray- 
 ers : they then deicer\d on the other fide of it, and 
 advance towards two arches, of the lame kind of 
 dimenfions, but at fome diftance from each other, 
 through which they pais with great filence and 
 devotion. This ceremony tnaa be performed le- 
 ven tunes. 
 
 From hence proceeding to the great mofque 
 which indoles the Houle of Abraham, they enter 
 thj mofque, zi)d walk lever, times round the little 
 building contains, within it, faying, " This is the 
 Houle of GoiJ, and of his fervant Abraham." Then 
 killing with great veneration a black ftone, laid to 
 have delcendtd white from Heaven, they go to 
 the famous well cahed Zun Zun, which the angel 
 
DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN, 193 
 
 fhewed to Hagar when fhe was di ft re fled in the de- 
 leit, and could find no water for her iom Ifhmae!, 
 and which the Arahs call Zem Z m. Into this 
 well they plunge wiih all their cloches, Tepeat*ng 
 " Toba Alia, Toba Alia !" that is 10 fey s " For- 
 givenets, God ! Forgiveneis, God!" They drink, 
 a. draught of . that fee. id, turbid wener, ar.d depart. 
 
 The duty of bathing and drinking hey are oblig- 
 ed to pais through ence ; but thole who would gain 
 Paradiie bofore the others, muff, rrpeat it once a 
 -day during the fhy of toe caravan at Mecca. 
 
 At fifteen miles from the town of Mecca there 
 is a hill called " Ghiabal Atafata," or " the Mount 
 of Fotgivenefs." It is about two miles in citcum- 
 ference — a mo ft delicious ipot. On it Adam and 
 Eve met, after the Lord had, for their tranigrcf- 
 iions, feparated them ioity years. Here they 
 cohabited and lived in excels of happinefs, having 
 built a houfe on it, culled " Beith Adam," that is 
 to fay, ;: the Houfe of Adam." On the eve of 
 •the day of Sacrifice, the three caravans, ranged in 
 a triangular form, iui round this mountain — dating 
 the whole night the people rejoice, clamour, and 
 riot — firing off cannon, mufkeis, piftols, and firc- 
 woiks, with an inceffant iound of drums and trum- 
 pets. Ac loon as day breaks, a piofound filence 
 lucceeos — they ilay their fheep and offer up their 
 facrifice on the mountain with every Uemonftration 
 of the mo ft profound devotion. 
 
 On a ludden a icheik (or head of the templet, 
 a kind of prela ;e, ruihes from amidft them, mounted 
 on a camel — lie aicends five fteps, rendered practi- 
 cable for the purpofe, and in a ftud.ed feunpn 
 preaches thus to tne people : 
 
 t: Return prase and thanks for the infinite and 
 immente. benefits granted by God to Mahomedans, 
 tltrougii the mediation of his mod beloved friend 
 and piophet, M-dtomet : for that he has deliver* d 
 them frotn the fid very and bondage of iin and ica- 
 
 R 
 
194 FREQUENT BROILS AT ALEPPO. 
 
 latry. in which they were plunged : has given them 
 the Houfe of Abraham, from whence they can be 
 heard, and their petitions granted ; aifo the moun- 
 tain of forgivenefs, by which they can implore 
 Him, and obtain a pardon and remiflion of all 
 their fins. 
 
 " For that the bleffed, pious, and merciful Gon, 
 giver of all good gifts, commanded his fecretary, 
 Abraham, to build himlelf a houfe at Mecca, whence 
 his defcendants might pray to the Almighty, and 
 their defires be fulfilled. 
 
 " On this command all the mountains in the 
 world ran, as it were, each ambitious to aflift the 
 iecretary of the Lord, and to furnilh a (lone to- 
 wards erefting the holy houfe; all, except this 
 poor little mountain, which, through mere indi- 
 gence, could not contribute a (lone. It continued 
 • therefore thirty years grievoufly afflicted : at length 
 the Eternal God obierved its anguifh, and, moved 
 with pity at its long fuffering, broke forth, laying, 
 I can forbear no longer, my child ! your bitter la- 
 mentations have reached my ears ; and I now de- 
 clare, that all thofe who go to vifit the houfe of my 
 friend Abraham fhall not be ablolved of their fins, 
 if they do not fir(t reverence you, and celebrate on 
 you the holy Sacrifice, which I have enjoined my 
 people through the mouth of my prophet Maho- 
 met ! Love God ! Pray ] Give Alms 1" 
 
 After this fermon the people ialute the Moun- 
 tain, and depart. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 I 
 
 * 
 :N my laft letters I endeavoured to give 
 you an account of the Turkifh government, laws, 
 
FREQUENT BROILS AT ALEPPO. 195 
 
 and conftitution in general, fo far as I was able to 
 collecl: information on the fubjjft. I will now 
 proceed to a deicription of thoie particular parts 
 of that vaft. empire through which I had occafion 
 to travel. 
 
 During ray flay at Aleppo, I experienced much 
 politeneis and hofpitality from the European gen- 
 try relident there, and particularly from Mr. , 
 
 at whole houfe I entirely refided ; and as the 
 Franks live on a very good footing with each other, 
 the time paffod lo agreeably, that were it not for 
 ri that within," I fhould have been happy enough 
 •> — We rode out occasionally, fometimefi hunting, 
 fomtuimes merely for the ride lc;ke. Sometimes 
 with an intelligent native whom I got to walk with 
 me, or with iome of the Franks, I walked about 
 ihe town, in order to amufe away the time and lee 
 what was going forward, notwithftanding the cry 
 of « Frangi Cucu 1" or ;; Cuckold Fiank [" which 
 frequently followed us for the length of a ftreet. 
 Sometimes we went of evenings to fome of the 
 outlets, where preperation was made for our recep- 
 tion by fervants, previoufly difpatched for the 
 purpofe, and there regaled with coffee, wine, 
 fruits, &c. 
 
 The fir ft day we went on a party of the laft men- 
 tioned kind, Mrs. did us the honour to ac- 
 company us : tne place appointed was in a range of 
 beautiful rural gardens that lie along the fide of a 
 river; where the well cultivated earth teeming with 
 a vail abundance of the belt efculent plants, flow- 
 ers, flowering fhrubs and fruit-trees, afforded a moft 
 delicious regale to the ienfes ; and the plane, the 
 willow, the afh, the pomegranate, and a variety of 
 other trees, cluttered together in aimoft impervious 
 thickets, yielded a delightful fliady retreat fiom 
 the piercing rays of the lun. It was on this occa- 
 fion that 1 got the firft fpecimen of Turkiih illibe- 
 rally, which, as I was entirely unprepared for it 
 
196 FREQUENT BR&ILS AT ALEPPO. 
 
 confounded me, and nearly deprived me of temper 
 and o^ prudence. As we walked along, 1 cblerved 
 
 ievei 2I Turks addrefling themfelves to Mrs. 
 
 and me, who walked arm in arm, and (peaking 
 with a loudnef6 of voice, contortion of countenance, 
 and violence of gefticulation, attended with a dap- 
 pling of hands, which, though 1 dsd not underftand 
 their language, I could plainly peiceive carried the 
 appearance of a menace or inlult. I was at a lols 
 
 what to think of it ; Mrs. : — blufhed. and 
 
 teemed much huit : Mr. and the other gen- 
 tlemen were filent, and betrayed not the leaft maik 
 rt emotion o' refentrnent, At length, when we got 
 from them, I ;>f*ud what it meant ? and was told,. 
 
 that it \va, all aimed .»' Mrs. - — . or at leaft 
 
 occananed by l.ci : that, bigoted n> lUe cuftoms of 
 their own country, and utterly i^noiant of thofe 
 of any other, 'hoy were aife&ed wtth great indigna- 
 tion at her drefs, oecaHonal derangement of her 
 veii, and, above all, at the {hameiefs ar.d un pardon- 
 ably wicked circumftance of a woman walking fa 
 openly and familiarly in the company of men.— - 
 
 Talking of this affair afterwards with Mr. j 
 
 the lady's hufb-and, he affured me. that there was 
 not an opprobrious and infamous epithet which the 
 vulgar ingenuity of the brighreft quean in Billings- 
 gate could ihink.of, that they had not huddled up- 
 on us. I was beyond meafure aftonilhed at the 
 coolnefs with which he bore it, and laid, that if I 
 had underftood what they had (aid. I ihould moft 
 cenainly have been unable 10 reflrrain myieif, and 
 would have knocked one of trvem down as an ex- 
 ample to the reft. Had you done fo, returned he, 
 you would certainly have repented it : for, if you 
 eiciped being ftoned, or put to death upon the 
 fpo:, the legal pun i foment for an infidel finking a 
 truj believer, you could not efcape ; and probably 
 we, and all the Franks in the city, would (offer for 
 it : it would at all events cauie a dreau'i ui con vulftou 
 
FREQUENT BROILS AT ALEPPO. 197 
 
 in the place, and you would yourfelf fall a facrifice 
 to it. 
 
 Not long fince I was convening on this fubjecl: 
 with a gemleman of my acquaintance, and menti- 
 oned it with fome afpcrity, as anting from a fpirit 
 of bigotry peculiar to Mahomedans. "My good 
 Sir," faid he, " let me undeceive you ! the very 
 fame would be done in mod parts of Spain. I was 
 one day," continued he, M walking in a town in 
 Spain, in company with the wife of a gentleman 
 who re Tided there, who were both well known, 
 and bore the moft unexceptionable character. See- 
 ing mo however walking with her, the populace, as 
 we pailed, held up two fingers figruficantly, and 
 cried to her, What a cuckold is your hufbinri ! and 
 concluded with * Todas las Inglefis Ion putas,' or, 
 
 w All Englifti women are s." He added, 
 
 " that he was even in Cadiz, where commercial in- 
 tercourfe renders them rather more liberal than in 
 other part of the country, frequently ■Bcoftea by 
 little children themfelves, with ' Crees in Dios ?' 
 Do you believe in God ? and fometimes forming a 
 crofs with the thumb of the light hand and the 
 forefinger, * Crees en efte ? Crees en efhe ? No ! 
 No! Ahjudio! Moro ! Barbaro ! Bruto ! Pro- 
 teftante ! Puerco ! Voia al los Infernos ! •' In 
 Englifh — Do you believe in this ? Do you believe 
 in this ? No ! No ! Ah Jew ! Moor ! Burbarfan \ 
 ProteRant ! Hog ! Go to Hell ! !" 
 
 So much for human beneficience and charity, 
 under the follering aufpices of religion ! 
 
 The houfe of Mr. , where I was fo hof- 
 
 pitably lodged, was a magnificent edifice, built in 
 ail the fulnefs of Eaftern grandfur and luxury, and 
 furnifhed with all the fplendour and (late of Tur- 
 key, united with the tafte and opulence of Great 
 Britain. It was indeed a houfe in which voluptu- 
 oufneft itfelf might fit down with fatisfaftion — The 
 mod unaffected hofpitality aed generous benevo- 
 
 R 2 
 
igS FREQUENT BROILS AT ALEPPO. 
 
 lence fpread the board, and politenefs and affability 
 prefided over all. Never fhall 1 forget it — never 
 fhall I think of it without gratitude and eftcem. 
 A gentleman of the opulence and conlequence of 
 
 Mr. , wiih a houle fuch as I have described, 
 
 and a dipohtion tofocial enjoyment, was not, you 
 will conclude, without a relort of company and 
 friends ; in truth, he had friends even among the 
 better fort of Turks. Parties of« pleaiure had no in- 
 tcrmifTion while I was there ; and as the ladies of 
 Europe or of European extraction in that countiy 
 are highly accompliihed, fpeak many languages, are 
 indefatigable in their efforts to pleafe, and receive 
 ftrangers from Europe with a joy and fatisfaftion 
 not to be described, Aleppo would have been ts» 
 me an Elyfium, if the pleafures of the place did not 
 from the beginning fufTer diminution from my own 
 painful fenfations, which were aggravated at laft by 
 an incident that arofe from my intercourfe there — 
 of whicrafcore hereafter. 
 
 While 1 lemained at Aleppo, I walked as I be- 
 fore told you, frequently about the ftreets ; and I 
 think I never was witnefs to fo many broils in all 
 my life put together, as I was in my wanderings 
 there — Not a time I went out that I did not obferve 
 one, two, three, and fometimes half a dozen or more, 
 They have nothing terrible in them however, and, 
 we%e it not extremely difgufling to fee men fcold, 
 flfl(M be very entertaining ; for I will venture to 
 lay that a (licet battle " a la Turque" is one of the 
 mod ludicrous exhibitions in the world. The par- 
 ties approach to each other, and retreat mutually, 
 as the aft'on of the one gives hopes to the other of 
 vi&ory, lifting their hinds, and flourifhing them in 
 the iir, as if ready to flrike every moment, grinning, 
 and gnafhing their teeth, while their beard and 
 whifkers befprent with the fpume of their mouths, 
 and wagging with the quick motion of their lips 
 and ghallly contortions of their jaws, prefent the 
 
FREQUENT BROILS AT ALEPPO. 199 
 
 moil ridiculous fpechcle imaginable. They remind- 
 ed me at the time of a verfe in an old Engiifti baU 
 lad:— 
 
 'Tis merry in the half, 
 
 When beards wag all. 
 
 Nothing, in fact, can exceed the extravagance of 
 their gefture: the vehement, loudnefs of their voice, 
 or the whimfical diftortions of their countenances, 
 in which are difplayed iometimes the quickeft vicif- 
 fitudes of fear and fury, and fcmetimes the mod 
 laughable combination of both. All this time, 
 hoACVer, not a fingle blow is actually (truck ; but 
 they compenfate for the want of bodily prowels by 
 the exercife of the t©ngue, denouncing vengeance 
 agiinft each other, threatening in Plant demolition, 
 Lvilhing every bitter reproach, every filthy epithet, 
 and every horrible imprecation that they can think 
 of, and both boafling occafionally of their patience 
 and forbearance, which fortunately enabled them to 
 refrain from annihilating their adverl-iry. At hft 
 the fray gradually decays : exhaufted wTth fatigue, 
 and half choaked with dud and vociferation, they 
 retreat gradually backwards to their own doors ; 
 where lumming up all their malignity into a mod 
 horrid execration, they part for the time, and retire 
 to vaunt in empty threat, and growl away their rage, 
 in the recefles of their haram. 
 
 Yet thole people are found terrible in battle by 
 the Chii(l:an troops that have from time to time 
 been o f )po:ed to them : here, if proof be wanting 
 of the eflefts of religion on the human mind, is an 
 incontrovertable one of its powerful operations. 
 Under the influence of their faith, which tells 
 them that they go to Paradile inftantly if killed in 
 battle with Infidels, they perform prodigies of va- 
 lour fighting againft Chrift.ans; while, ioibidden 
 by that faith to imbrue their hands in the blood of 
 a true believer, their paiTions have been gradually 
 brought under the dominion of theii religion, till 
 
200 MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 
 
 that which at full W3S faith at Uft becomes habit, 
 and the appropriate energy and courage of the man 
 has funk, into the degrading and emafculant efforts 
 of the woman. 
 
 The pra&ice of fighting, or perfonal confli&s 
 between individuals of the fame focicty, feems to 
 have been condemned by the universal confent of 
 all leligions. The Gentoos, as well as all the other 
 fe&s of the various parts of the Ealt through which 
 I have travelled, give vent to their pafiion in near- 
 ly the fame manner as the Turks. The Chriftians 
 too are mofl ftri£lly forbidden to ftrike one another 
 by the great Author of their faith : but it is their 
 good fortune, that they not oYily have the beft reli- 
 gion in the woild for their guidance, but that they 
 are the only people in the world who claim exemp- 
 tion Irom the penalties of that religion, and think 
 themfclves wronged and their perlonal rights in- 
 fringed, if they are refuted the privilege of break- 
 ing through its rules whenever thole rules are at 
 variance with their convenience. 
 
 Be it your care, my dear child, to fortify your 
 mind with the fpirit of true religion and found 
 morality, and let your practice in life be ever guid- 
 ed by their precepts. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 T, 
 
 HE avidity with which human crea- 
 tures fearch for fomething to recreate the mind and 
 keep it in exeicife, is of itfelf a convincing proof 
 of the natural att-.vity of our intellectual faculties, 
 and fnews that, like the different parts of the bo- 
 dy, they were given by Providence to be called 
 fnto effort and improved by practice, As they who 
 
MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 201 
 
 by the favours of opulence are exempted from the 
 necefiity of attual bodily labour, are obliged to have 
 rccourfe to artificial labour called exercile ; fo they 
 who have the misfortune to be precluded from the 
 employment of the mind by bud net's, are obliged 
 to feek mental exercife in a variety of expedients, 
 fome of which are criminal, fome foolifh, and fome 
 good for nothing or indifferent. Cards, dice, and 
 games of chance are (according to the extent to 
 which they are carried) of the two former — talc 
 and novel-reading of the two latter. Thofe how- 
 ever ferve to occupy the vacant hours of all the 
 idle and unemployed, And when letters deny 
 their friendly aid, we find among curfelves the de- 
 ficiency fupplied from the lefs ample refources of 
 the memory ; arid (lory- telling, love tales, fairy 
 tales, and- goblin and ghqft adventures, are recited 
 round the villager's fire or the kitchen bearth in 
 as great numbers, with as much ingenuity, and to 
 as great efrV£V, as they are to be found written in 
 the innumerable volumes on the (helves of our cir- 
 cuhting libraries. 
 
 In Turkey, where the art of printing has not yet 
 been known, were the circulation of literary pro- 
 ductions is chained down within the narrow compafs 
 of manu'feript, and where therefore the efforts of 
 genius are rep retted by diicouragement, the bufinefs 
 of ftory-telling makes in itfelfa profefiion, which, 
 srs it is acquired by ft jdy and p'oiecuted with art, 
 is followed with cohftde'rabty profit. 
 
 One day a friend (a French gentleman) who ef- 
 corted me through the town called to diaw me out 
 with him for a walk ; he laid he wilhcd to fhew me 
 Jome of the caravanferas. obterving that he thought 
 I fhould be entertained with a view of them. I 
 agreed to go : and he brought me to two, which af- 
 ter he had fnewn to me and explained their princi- 
 ple, police, and e! quette, I could not help admi- 
 ring and approving. To both tirefe were attached 
 
202 MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 
 
 eating-houfes and coffee-houfes, and every appen- 
 dage that could render them convenient and com- 
 fortable. As we were about leaving the laft I 
 obferved my friend (lop and liflen attentively. 
 *' Come hither," faid he, after a minute's pau;c — 
 * ; come into this coffee-houfe, here is ibme thing 
 going foj ward that may amule you." 
 
 We accordingly entered the coffee-houfe, where 
 we fa,w a number of people, fome ieated in the Tur- 
 kifh fafhion, iome on low (tools, and fome {land- 
 ing ; and in the middle a man walking to and fro, 
 (peaking in an audible voice, (onetimes (lowly, 
 iomeiiti.es with ra r i::iiy, varying occasion- 
 
 ally with all the inflections of a c onuing lenfe, 
 
 I could not i ud him, bui lie feemefi to me 
 
 to (peak with t; good emphafis and good d: 
 tion :" his a£t ; on was eafy to him, though expref- 
 fiveand empha'.ical y and his countenance ex 1 : ited 
 ilrong marks of elcq.ient expreflion. I could not 
 help (taring with ailoniihment at a fcene fo new tcr 
 me, and felt great approbation of the tones and 
 manner of this extraordinary orator, though I could 
 not underftand a hnole word he (aid. He was lift- 
 ened to by all with great attention, and the Turks 
 (albeit not uied to the laughing mood) frequently 
 betrayed ftrong iymptoms of ritibility : but in the 
 height and torrent of his fpeech he broke fuddenly 
 off, Icamoered out of the door and diiappeard. I let 
 it down that he was a maniac or lunatic of an inge- 
 nious kind, and was for going away. " Stay," lays 
 my friend, "reft where you are for a few minutes, 
 let us hear further." 
 
 The orator had icarcely been gone three minutes 
 when the room was liiied with the buzz of conver- 
 fation, a word of which I could not under(tand 9 
 but which my guide iiitened to very attentively. 
 At length the buzz be^an to grow loud, and loon 
 jncfeaU d into clamour ; when a lcene enlued of io 
 very iudncious a kind as forced me to cr2m my 
 
MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 20 
 
 j 
 
 nandkerchief into my mouth to fupprefs a laugh, or 
 at lead fo to Rifle it as to avoid obfervation. la 
 fhort, they were difputing violently, and the beards 
 were, as I once before mentioned to you, all" 
 wagging. I became more convulied 3vith mirth ; 
 and my friend feeing that I was likely to give of- 
 fence, took me under the arm and hurried me out 
 of the coffee-houie : we retired into a porch in the 
 caravanfeia, where i gave vent to my fupprcfled 
 laughter till my fides were fore and my eyes ran 
 tears. 
 
 " In the name of God, my friend !" faid I, " tell 
 me what is the meaning of all that extravagant fccne 
 to which we have jufl now been witnefs : who is 
 that madman that lpoke lo much ? and why did 
 they all quarrel after he went away ?" 
 
 " Come, come," faid he, " let us retire to my 
 houfe, and I will there explain the whole of it te 
 you, from begining to ending." 
 
 I accordingly accompanied him home, where we 
 found a very gay circle affembled, to whom he de- 
 fcribed my aftonifhment ; recounting my immode- 
 rate laughter, till they all laughed very nearly as im- 
 moderately as myfelf. " You muft know," faid 
 he, addrefling himfelf to me, " that he whom 
 you took to be a madman, is one of the moft cele- 
 brated compoiers and tellers of (tories in Afia, and 
 only wants the aid of printing to he perhaps as emi- 
 nent in reputation for making Contes, as Mar- 
 montei or Madame D'Anois. As we paffi i ah ng 
 I heard his vo'ce, and, knowing it, relolved to let 
 you fee him, and bronght you in for the purpofe. 
 lie was enteitaining the company with a very curi- 
 ous, intereftin'g, and comical (lory ; the .bjsctof 
 which* was avarice : the hero a rriiier of the name 
 of CafTem. His milery and avarice are represented 
 in it as bringing him into a variety of fcrapes, which 
 wafte his wealth ; and his character is diaWn.with 
 fuch ftrenglh of colouring, ana marked whh'-'fUch' 
 
O04 MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 
 
 grotefque lines of humour — he related it moreover 
 with lo much wit, in iuch admirable language, and 
 embellifhed and enforced it with (uch appropriate 
 a£bon, utterance, and emphafis — that it nvited, as 
 you faw, the attention of all his auditors, and ex- 
 torted laughter even from Tur.kifh gravity," 
 
 " But how came he to break oft; i'o iuddenly ?." 
 faid I. 
 
 <s That.," returned my friend, u is a part of the 
 art of his profeftion, without which he could not 
 live ; juft as he gets to a mod interefting part of 
 the ftoiy, when he has wound the imagination of 
 his auditors up to the higheft climax of expectation, 
 he purpoiely breaks oft to make them eager for the 
 reft, lie is lure to have them ail next cay, uiih 
 additional numbers who come on their lepoit, and 
 l)e makes his terms to fimfh the ftory." 
 
 *' Why. then," interrupted I, " why did they'who 
 remained behind fall dilputing ?" 
 
 " That 1 will expiate to you,'* faid he. Jufl as 
 
 he broke oft, Call m the miller 'who, as far as I 
 
 heard, teems as well drawn as Molieie's Avars) 
 
 having already fuftertd a thoutand whim deal mil- 
 ts / 
 
 fortunes and dilapidations ol fortune, is biought be- 
 fore the cadi for digging in his garden, on the pre- 
 emption tha; he was digging foi tiealure. As loon 
 as the btftorian was gone, they full applauded him, 
 and then begin so diicuts his {lory — wh:ch they 
 one ana all agreed in prailing highly and when 
 they came to talk oi i he utobable iffue of the leq.iel 
 of it, there were almoft as many opinions as there 
 were men in company ; each maintained his own, 
 and they went lo loggei heads as you law about it — 
 when the chance is a thouland lo one, that not one 
 of them was neai the maik. One in paiticular. lur- 
 miled that Caftem woulo be married to the cadi's 
 daughter J which gave great offence to lome, and 
 rouled another ol the company to declare, that he 
 was well afluitd in his couioiei.ee that C after* 
 
MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 205 
 
 would be brought to the baftinado or the flake, 
 or elfe hanged, in the fequel." 
 
 44 And is it poflible," laid I, " that a group of 
 twenty or thirty rational beings can be lo far bereft 
 of all common fen lie, as to dilpute upon the refult 
 of a contigency, which ablolutely depends on the 
 aibitrary fancy of an acknowledged fabricator of 
 falfehoods?" 
 
 " C'ejl yrai, Monfieur ? and thereby they de- 
 mon ftrate the power of the poet (for poet we may 
 call him) ; and entrt nous, I doubt whether ft is not 
 more rational, as w r ell as more fair, to dilpute what 
 the denouement ought to be before than after the in- 
 ventor of the piece has diipoled of it. as is the 
 practice with us. When he has once finifhed his 
 fable, you will find them ail content, and the voice 
 of ciiticifm filent. Now in France or England, 
 our critics lie perdue, in orc.cr to attack the poet, 
 let him iimth hi perfoimance how he may. But 
 you will recollect, Monfieur, that in Tv\ key ciiti- 
 cifm is the honed fpotitaneottfi iffue of the heart, 
 and with us is a "lade, where fomcthnes lucre, lotne- 
 times vanity, but < i'tener than both, envy and«na- 
 lice direct the decifion, and diipolc to cav.f and 
 cenlure. 
 
 " But we will go again to-morrow," continued 
 he, i; prcb.tbly he w;,i be there to conclude or pro- 
 ceed further v itory ;" I agreed to this and 
 we paried. 
 
 On the next dn' we went, and not feeing 
 orator in his place, lounged about the carav^r. (m, 
 and going to another coffee-houfe found him de- 
 ming with all his might, My fncud told me 
 that the ftoty he was now on was quite different 
 from the former : . cd his motions 
 
 fo effectually that we got the conclusion of i. 1 
 ftory of Caffetn, which completely uilappcnted 
 the ptognoftics of tne two cot fl ct:ng Turkifh 
 critics; for CaiTcm was neither bakinadoed. fiuksd, 
 
 S 
 
2o6 MANNERS OF THE TURKS, 
 
 or hanged, nor married to the cadi's daughter, hut 
 lived to he that extreme avarice was folly ; and to 
 be fenfible that to make the pioper.ule of the goods 
 of this life is to er.joy them. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 M 
 
 -Y laft let'er has fhewn you, that the 
 conceptions of genius, though they may want the 
 aid ©f the preis to bring them in full and perfeft 
 diiclorure to the world, will yet burft through their 
 bounds, and find fome means of communication 
 with mankind ; for though the art of printing he 
 unknown in Turkey, the emanations of (uperior 
 intellect and fancy find their way to the general ear 
 through the medium of public declamation in cof- 
 fee-houles. This letter will leive to {hew you that 
 malverfation in office, public delinquency, and all 
 thole ctimes of i he great, which with us ate cog* 
 nizable by no tribunal but that of the purlic piels, 
 are not altogether lo exempt from the d ex- 
 
 poiure ol the fatirift in Turkey, as the want or 
 that great palladium of freedom would oiipoie us 
 to believe ; and that, incredible as it mav appear, 
 the magiftrates are held up to lidiculc in public 
 exhibition, htiriied with a!l the extravagant vul- 
 garity of coarie humour and un^oiiihed wit, and 
 cxpofed with ail the biuer exaggerations pi enven- 
 omed geniu.-. 
 
 1 he French gentleman whom I mentined to you 
 in my laft, as having procured me that plea-lane 
 repaft at the coftce-houie, called on nc a morning 
 or two after that, and leminded me how higi.iy 1 
 feemed to be entertained: laid, there weie often 
 to be iccn, by walking about and going into public 
 
MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 207 
 
 s, a variety of things, which however wovth- 
 fels and unentertainir.g in themlelves, might, froiq 
 the novelty of their appearance, and their urilike- 
 iinefs to any thing feen in Europe, ferve either to 
 •divert by their oddity, or promote the conception 
 •of new ideas in the mind : he therefore recom- 
 mended it 10 me, with a!! the zeal of a perfon who 
 look an interest in my happinefs, to keep on my 
 legs and in the (beets while I lemained at Aleppo. 
 
 You will conclude that I readdy complied, and 
 we tallied out directly in quell of adventure. We 
 imocv ; !~ erefore, to one of the before menti- 
 
 oned coltee-i'.Oiies,- wheie, as my rVrenct ablerved 
 to me, though tiicre were no people of gre^t rank, 
 there was generally lomething to afford contempla- 
 tion or -amulement ; and where, if nothing ell® 
 occurred, the motley appearance of the company 
 was tufricient to excite a variety of whimficai emo- 
 tions, and fuggeft numberiefs ludicrous images to 
 the imagination of an? Englifh or French man. 
 As there was no orator at work declaiming, I had 
 time to indulge myfelf with a more accurate view 
 than I had before taken of the group that lurround- 
 ed us : and lurely never was ponderous gravity 
 more ludicrouilv, or in more various forms depiCted 
 by any caricaturift in the world. — Here it was to be 
 leen, in ail its ihadings, from the ielf-important 
 nod of lerious cogitation, down to the ioporihe 
 alpett of t\olid ftupidity. Not a rnufcle was mo- 
 ved Hi way of mirth, not a facj dilgraced wich a 
 imile, and I could not help thinking all the time, 
 mat if every nation of the earth was to take fome 
 animal for its inhgnia, as the Btitiih aflame the 
 lion, and the Pruiiim the e;;g!e, the Turks might 
 be divided m their choice becweea the appropriate 
 claims of the owl and the als. 
 
 Soon after we entered, a band of what they 
 called malic, (truck up a concert. And here again 
 the notion 3 f the owl and the als ftruck me with 
 
208 MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 
 
 increafed force, as peculiarly prefixing over their 
 mufic : for no other combination of founds that I 
 know on earth, but the fcreeching of the one. and 
 the braying of the other, could form any thing to 
 refemble this concert, with which the auditory 
 fcemed vauMy pleaied, though I was obliged to be- 
 take myfelf to flight, in order to get relief from 
 the torture it give me. The Turks, however, as 
 I retreated, honoured me with a few remarks, 
 which as 1 did not understand, I could not pre- 
 cifely feel ; my friend however told me, thev were 
 to the efle£t that we were Frangi Dumus (Frank 
 Hog), and had no more ear than that filthy ani- 
 mal for nunc. 
 
 Come, laid my friend, don't be diicoura^ed ! — 
 But the nxufic — the m^nc ! interrupted I. — Well 
 then, laid he, the r^uhc, or rather the founds were 
 execrable to be fure ; they have at leaft ferved to 
 blilh this certainty, that there is nothing, how- 
 cv-jr dilcoidant or det-ftable, which habit will not 
 reconcile us to. Doubt not, laid he, that the belt 
 ce of Handel or Correll'. performed by i he belt 
 bar*! in Rome, would appear s to !hem, 
 
 as treir concert did to us. 
 
 ~ vifued many ceiFee-hc.ifes in the courfe of 
 
 . Y. in every one of which we found fome- 
 
 ::g to divert or dilguft us ; at length as we en- 
 
 teied one, my fi.ualy guide turning to me with 
 
 iajtUfa&on in his ccuivewar.ce, iriid 4C Here is 
 
 fenu thing about to go forward that 
 
 Ltd" than the concert of mulic.'*' What is it 
 fauj I ? A drama, returned he ; a drama, to y f U 
 mod certainly of a new and extraordinary kind ; 
 and I dp <■ iiuif* \na liraf fo zealous am I to pic core 
 you entertainmet.t, 1 won id rarhcr than a c u l« 
 of louisNyou could underfLand what rs gr>«1 
 ward : your hearty mirth and la>:ghier, added 
 arc u.fficicnt to put one in kpirits. H d ; » 
 
 recteu my attention to a fellow who wss bufily \ 
 
MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 209 
 
 ployed in ere&ing a ilage, which he accomplifhcd 
 in a time incredibly (hort. The light of the iun 
 was completely excluded, and a puppet fhew com- 
 menced, which gave great delight t* all the audi- 
 ence, and ignorant as 1 was of the language, plsa- 
 led me very much. 
 
 I was altonifhed when informed that one man 
 oniy {poke for all the perfonages of :he drama, for 
 lo artfully did he change his tone of voice, that I 
 could have fworn there had been as many peopl« 
 to {peak, as there were chaiacters in the piece. 
 The images were not a&ually puppets, commonly 
 £0 called, but fhadows done in the. manner of Al- 
 ley's Ombres Chinoifes. They were, however, far 
 inferior to his in execution and management, 
 thuugh the dijlogue and incident evidently appear- 
 ed even 10 me, 10 be executed with a degree of the 
 vis comica far iuperior to any 1 ever (aw in a thing 
 of the kind in Europe ; indeed to perfect was the 
 whole, that though I knew not a word of the lan- 
 guage, 1 comprehended clearly the plan of the 
 piece, and many of the Ihokes of humour con- 
 tained in the dialogues. — The plan was obvioufly 
 taker, horn a ftory which 1 have read in fome of the 
 Euflern tales, I believe the Arabian Nights Enter- 
 tainments, and it is founded on the Law of the 
 counity, that a man may repudiate his wife twice, 
 anu take her back again ; but in the event of a 
 ihrc divorce, cannor. retake her to his marriage- 
 ued. unlets ihe be previously married and divorced 
 by anotner man. To obviate wh-ch, hufbanus 
 who repent having divorced their wives a thiid 
 lime, employ a man to myrry them, and re (lore 
 her back again ; and he who does this office is 
 i a Hullah. — In the piece before us, however, 
 the L^dy and the Hullah 1 ke each other lo wen, 
 hey jj.^ not to leparale ; the hufbjnd brings 
 them both before the cadi to enforce a feparation ; 
 and the fcene before the ca-ji was as iudiciouSj and 
 
 S 2. 
 
«10 N-NER-3 OF THE TURKS. 
 
 "as keen a f?tire upon thofe magistrates as can well 
 be conceived. though of the Tow kind. 
 
 The piece was introduced with a grand nuptial 
 proccfiion, if which the maftcr diiplaycd the pow- 
 ers of his voice bv uttering a varietv of the troll: 
 oppofite tores in the whole gamut of the human 
 voice ; fometimes fper-king, fometimes (queaking 
 like a huit child, fometimes hazzung as a man, a 
 woman, or a child ; lometirses neighing like a 
 horfe, and fometimes interfpeifing it with other 
 fvich founds as commonly occur in crowds, in fuch 
 a manner as aftonifheJ me : while the concomitant 
 aftion of the images, grotefque beyond meafure, 
 kept' up the lairgh ; hories k'eking and throwing 
 their riders, ailes biting thole near them, and kick- 
 ing thofe behind them, who retire limpir g in the 
 moll ridiculous manner : while their great Handing 
 character in z\\ piece?, Kara-ghusk (the fame as 
 our Pufrch), raifed a general roar of obflreperous 
 mirth even frosn the Turks, with his whimfical 
 action, if which I muft fay that, though noniefi- 
 cal, though indecent, and fometimes even difgufl- 
 ing, it was on the whore the mod finifhed com- 
 pofitr6n of low ribaldry and fun that I ever be- 
 hold. 
 
 When they come before the cadi, he is- feated in 
 his divan of juflice ; but as loon as the complaint 
 is opened and anfwered, he. rifes and comes for- 
 ward between the contending parries : here he 
 turrfs to one and den h a terrific tone what 
 
 he has to fay, while the err"her puts cafh in his hand 
 behind, and in proper* ti^n as thr feaih is counted in, 
 increases the terror of his voice ; fte irvn pockets 
 the tnonev. a- \a other, irtd de- 
 
 mands what he hss to i I h e in Ike nvnner 
 
 he • the bnbes from his ao>vr!aiy and p. 
 
 it in an op- clre pocke^ : this a!r. , rj/licairon 
 
 lads i ll t..e | rre |xfi when, 
 
 rng a great groefr, he reti-res on'; r.e Hue to icck- 
 
MANNERS OF THE TURKS. 211 
 
 6f! trie money of each from a pccket he has on 
 ei'::ier fide, one caHed plaintiff, and the other de- 
 fendant > when balancing them, he finds plaintiff 
 better By one nfper (or three- halfpence) than de- 
 fendant, and pronounces his judgment accordingly. 
 The defendant appeals to the b-.fi.2w ; they go be- 
 fore him : Kara-ghuss (Punch) however, takes 
 the defendant afic!c, and in a dialogue, which my 
 friend allured me was pointed, witty, ai*d bitteily 
 fatirical, develops to him the whole fyfcem of ma- 
 gifhatical injuilicc, adviies him to bi.^e the bafhaw, 
 and declaring his zeal for all young people fond of 
 amorous enjoyment (which he is at forne pains to 
 enlarge upon to the excels of indelicacy), offers 
 him the aid of his purfe. The advice is followed ; 
 the bribe is accep'ed ; the cadi's decree is uveried, 
 and himfelf difgraced, and the mcb at once huffie 
 him and bear the Hullah home to his bride with 
 clamours of joy. Here again the mailer fhe wed his 
 extraordinary powers, giving hot only, as befc 
 diilinft and oppofi'c tones of voice, but huddlng a 
 number of different founds with iuch fkill and ra- 
 pidity together, that it Was tea reefy pcfhb-le to refill 
 the per!u.ifto:i th::t they were the iffue of a large 
 and tumultuous crowd of men and animars. With 
 this" extravagant melingz the cuitain dropped, and 
 the pet forrrn nee ended. 
 
 Returning home we converfed together on ihc 
 fubjeft of the piece, which I confets I coula not get 
 Out of my head for forne time. My friend explain- 
 ed to me, as well as he c^uld recoiled, a great part 
 of the dialogue, and iffbred me, that the freeuem of 
 fpeech of Monfteur Kara-giiuss had from time to 
 time created a great deal of uneahne:s, not only to- 
 private offending individuals, but ro the mugiftracy 
 itfelf— -:hat no offender, however intrenched behind 
 power, or enfhiined in nnk, couli eicape him — that 
 bafhaws, cjdis, nay the : janiffr. ici ..i -;n. elves, *vere. 
 often Tirade the fport or rr.s iury ; thai he was not 
 
2 12 MANNERS OF THE TURr.x 
 
 more retrained in tire effufions of obfcenity whitrt 
 lie uteied, than in his iatire ; t H ^ t he was alw; 
 well teceivcd and applauded, even veneiated (as we 
 venerate the liberty of the pre.s^ as a- bold teller of 
 trutn, who with Utile nulchief does a graat deal of 
 good, and often loules the Lethajgjc pubiic mind to 
 a ienle of public dangers and injuiies. He adc. . 
 that in lome ca.es the in2gillrate. had been obliged 
 lo intetfere ; and tne baiUaw hiruicif was ieriou'dy 
 .led upon at times to nop the licentious tongue of 
 ti-iis champion or r \eedo-m, Kaka-gk u jc 
 
 "Well then." laid. I. "it appeais upon the whci.2 
 that Monfieur Kara-ghuse is h very great b'dLK- 
 guatd, but a very witty, and a vei\ honeii on-.' 
 
 ' ; You have juft. hit it," laid he ; "and if Mailer 
 Kara-ghufe was to take iuch liberties in France, 
 Spain, Poitugal,or Germany; all his wit and noneity 
 vsouict not kve hirn irom punuhment. In England 
 you do not want hicr, ; every man there is a Kaua- 
 ghuse, and every newipaper a puppet-fhew." 
 
 " And yet." returned I, •' we co::;pia:n iadly of 
 want of libei i y !" 
 
 tl That is natural, " icturnec my fagrcious French- 
 man, " peifectiy natural. Liberty is like money ; 
 tne nrtore, we ;ave of it, the more covetous we grow." 
 " Very true, Monheur," laid 1, pleaied with his 
 compliment to car happy conflitution, ana to cnncn 
 his oiiei vatio::. gwe a Latin quotation, which when 
 » c: ild I go; out of Lillys G». j -m:r.ar, '• Creicit amor 
 Qunami, quan'.um lpla pccunia cit-ie:' ;" andti.cit 
 ciian^.ug in; mm us- for huertas, " Crcfcit amor fy* 
 beiU'.iSj quan:um i;>.a Libertas cre:c:;." 
 
 " "lis very well, Monfieur.'' laid he ; and to 
 cany on your s'lunou, may we not -it they 
 
 q :; it know when :hey have enough,, are as 
 geroufl", wrong in. trie one caie, as I 
 fay we ' . t . ate in the oihei -.n- 
 
 ftliiJM cpmn of th-j want of liberty, -ds 
 
 me of the coi£ce,-iK>u» r e oidLof j ...jiy oijCUTeiOj who, 
 
DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 213 
 
 ■wallowing in wealth, loft it ail in the wild purfuit 
 of more. — I hope however that they never will, 
 like him, lole their flock, in vain endeavours to in- 
 creafe it." 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 W 
 
 7 
 
 )/ HILE I was, in the manner I have 
 already mentioned, endeavouring to pals away the 
 time as cheerfully as poffible, till a caravan was for- 
 med, or Company's difpatches were coming over 
 land, of which I might 'avail myfelf ; I found my 
 (ituation in the houfe of Mr. 'growing ex- 
 tremely critical. That gentleman, ■ of whole good 
 fenfe," and tiuly excellent difpofition, t had too 
 rnamfo'd proofs to call them in queftion, had, 
 though fallen into the vale of years, married his la- 
 dy at a very tender age. She was then young,, 
 beau ifu), full of fenfibility. and gifted with fuch. 
 natuiai endowments both of mind and perion, ac- 
 companied with all thoie accdrnptiihments which 
 helped to cirefs them to advantage, that (he might 
 well Be acq ittteJ of vanity, even though fancy 
 fug^Med to her fhe was fit to grace and confer hap- 
 pinefson'a younger bed ; while reft . £Von on the 
 obvious dif parity of the match (which the cool tem- 
 per of fatiety poflibiy fuggefted to him) might per- 
 haps have alarmed his mind to circumftances of 
 probable danger, that, before wedlock, were all 
 hid behind the deceptive veil of pafliorv. Whe- 
 ther thc'.e were the private fentiments that influen- 
 ced tVth or ei; her of them, I cannot prelume to 
 determine, though I think it probable : for I was 
 not long in the houie till I plainly perceived they 
 were on a very bad fooling with each other, and 
 
214 DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 
 
 in fhort that difagreement was become habitual tj> 
 them. At fir ft, that is to lay, for a few clays after 
 my becoming an inmate of their houie, decency cn- 
 Jc;ced concealment, and the ebullitions of pcvifh- 
 nets were Milled by the chelates of prudence ; but 
 the animohdies of the connubial ftate are thofre which 
 of all others are the mod impatient under control ;■ 
 and as time, by producing familiarity, relaxed ie(l- 
 raint, the pent-up palnons began to force their way, 
 and open bickering tuck place in mv pvelence. 
 
 It is but barely doing juflice to rnyfelf 10 lay. that 
 I felt the rr.oft poignant concern at iecing a couple, 
 each lo perfectly amiable in all b|hei' reipetts hluil- 
 h'ig the hours : ; iac fhould be given to harmony and 
 love, in jarring reproach, and recrimination ; and 
 1 would have given ail I was worth that I had ne- 
 ver had occafion to efteem them fo much, or that 
 I could give them that peace which feemed to have, 
 flown them for ever. Fain would i Gift a veil 
 over the whole tronfaclion fain would I bury it 
 even from myfeif, in oblivion : but it has been 
 made by my enemies the lubject of triumphant {lan- 
 der; and to do juftice to mylelf, and diiclaim the 
 ex'ent of guilt which they would impute to me, I 
 am reluctantly obliged to avow the fr>s;e 1 Lao, 
 and declare how the matter really flood. I muit 
 ipeak the truth, and hope you will not conceive 
 that I delignedly lean too heavily" upon any one, to 
 eaie rnyfelf of my fnare of the load. 
 
 Whatever domestic Ltneafinefs may fubfift be- 
 tween a married pair, the. mar), if prudent, v 
 endeavour to conceal it ; and the woman, if truly 
 virtuous, will cuke cue to do lo : fhould great dis- 
 parity of age (as in the piefent ihftancej be the 
 caie, the lady is more particularly bound to conceal 
 arty up.eafinels. left it fhould be attributed tcj that 
 clue which people are in fuch cafes too pio;;e to 
 Juipccr, diflike lo her hufbmd; and before young 
 B.en, abo\ t foe fhould be [Raft exemplary. 
 
DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 215 
 
 fhe mud well know that their natural vanity, com- 
 bined with the leading idea of her averfion and 
 infidelity to her hufband, fugged ideas to them 
 from whence (heir w?rm imaginations draw infer- 
 ences of a nature too pleahng to be parted with, 
 and too probable not to be put in pr^tt^ce, or at 
 lead attempted. Here then a woman at once lays 
 herfelf fairly open to the a{Taults of illicit love. I 
 think it will not be denied, that the woman who 
 promulgates the disagreements between her and her 
 hufband, particularly if fhe fuffers a young man to 
 be privv to ir, is either extremsly ignorant, or in* 
 tcntionally vicious, or both. 
 
 That the lady I allude to m3y in fome refpecl; be 
 acquitted of this impu-tation, I mufl tell you, that 
 ilie was only eighteen years .of age ; her tender, in- 
 experienced mind had not vet ariived to that matu- 
 rity which gives found j nSgme'nt ; and though of 
 good natural talents, highly cultivated (for fhe ipoke 
 fluently Engl'ia, Fret.ch, Italian, Aiibic, Per Man, 
 and the Greek arnd Tuikifh languages], fh<: yet was 
 inapte, irftiocrttt, uninformed in the ways of the 
 woili, and incapable of realoning from, caules up 
 to confebuehces. But unfortunate timplicity 
 
 is attenaed with as much mrfchief, l: o gh not 
 £<»ilt, as the wiiful mvfcondr.cl: of the more expe- 
 rienced ; it haji the fame bdieful eft. eta with the 
 hearers, inipues the lj;nc confide;! ce, emboldens 
 with the lame hopes, and leads to the lam^. perni- 
 cious pi aft ces. 
 
 I have already mentioned, and will now remind 
 you, that 1 was then *oung. Perhaps it was owing 
 to* a Congeniality pointed out bv pur age, perhaps 
 to a compaffionate politencis j&mo'tfniing to ten Ler- 
 
 S, which I always diiciofed on thofe unhaj py 
 occasions, joined! perhaps id the ardent lex k of 
 youth kindled lv the imaginations to which this 
 imprudent conduct mienlib! , ., th.it. 'he 
 
 y thought ore -per to take the veiy hazardous fie > 
 
2l6 DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 
 
 of msking a confidant of a young man and a foldier 
 - — and revealing to me the whole tale of her griev- 
 ances, with a pathetic eloquence, that would have 
 made an impreflion upon a much lefs luicepiiblc 
 heart than mine. I declare it mofr. folemely, that 
 though this extraordinary mark of confidence and 
 efleem communicated to my heart ftrong ienfations 
 of unjuflifiable pl.eafure ; I fo fV.r got the better of 
 myfelf at firft, as to receive the whole with the 
 fame appearance of tranquility, as if I had been 
 only a confidential female friend. I pitied, it is 
 true ; — I expreffed my pity ; — I adviied, not trea- 
 cheroufly but faithfully ; — I (a ; d fuch things as 
 occurerl to me to be moft likely to affuage and ex- 
 tinguish the, flame of diicord, and lead to an amca- 
 ble adjustment ; and 1 parted foi that time with 
 her to go to a felf-apritoving pliiovv, where, while 
 my fancy was inflamed and lickled by the flattering 
 maik of regard (hewn me bv lo all-accomplifhed a 
 ptrion, I had the Toothing nelightful conlciouinefs 
 of having, as'far as 1 was ible, done r.v duty, and 
 efcaped 'he corroding refkclon of having violated 
 the lights of hofpirali v. 
 
 Not an opportunity however afterwards ofTered, 
 that the farr : unhappy point -.vas not the lubp*ct of 
 cfifcuffii n, and unfortunately thole opportunities but 
 too frequei.lly occurred ; till at length we began to 
 feel that they w< s r hc iwecteft minutes of our 
 lives, and wei ht for with in du&riti js avidi'.y 
 
 by both f us. No human refolution was Sufficient 
 to v-i;.., - f llc Jj an unlucky concui-.^r.cc ol cir- 
 cum fiances : from lamenting the grievance*, we 
 wiflied to remove them ; from v. firing, we | 
 cteded to conhcier the means: and when v\ e 
 got that length, ihe flight was not far to the ex- 
 treme end — the execution cf it. My ] ;>ur- 
 ried me before themj my expreflions grew gradu- 
 ally more and mo'e unguarded, our conUefia 
 became more intercfting una warm; and th 
 
DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 217 
 
 Telt and ftruggled to be guided by the ftrvft princi- 
 ples of honour, and formed a ihoufand resolutions 
 not to tranfgrefs the laws of hofpitality, by injuring 
 the man who had treated me with luch kindneis, 
 the ftruggle became too fe verve for me — the defire 
 of "pie. ifing a lovely woman, who had repo'ed iuch 
 unbounded confidence in me, and who ieemed to 
 expect nnd require of me to alleviate her mifery, at 
 length bore down all the oppofttions fuggeded by 
 realon and principle, and 1 agreed to become th-s 
 inftrument of her removal from this unhappy iitua- 
 tion. We fell — but not intirely. There is one 
 length to which no earthly confederation — no al- 
 lurement however dazzling could tempt me — it is 
 now the moll cordial confutation to my mind ; I 
 never fuffered myfelf to think of trefpaiTmg on the 
 decorum of his houie, nor did we in any fmgle in- 
 ftance carry our intercourfe to a direct violation of 
 his bed. Though the tranfports of youthful paf- 
 fion hurried us into conventions and reflections en 
 the iubject of her determination to be feparated 
 from her hufband, yet tli3t paflion was of too deli- 
 cate a kind %o fink into the brutal fordid indulgence 
 of difhonourable ftoien embraces. She wilhed for 
 that feparation, rather as a fubterfuge from incefiant 
 diurnal mifery, than as a prelude to any vicious or 
 illicit enjoyment ; and we looked with pleaiure to 
 the event, but we looked no further. 
 
 It is thus that, in the down-hill path of vice, 
 we are hurried on ftep by ftep, fondly imagining 
 that each iucceffive obj.-cl, which bounds our fight, 
 will flop our headlong career; while alas! every 
 ftep we advance gives additional rapidity to our de- 
 icent : like the centripetal force of a projectile, our 
 pace incieales with uniformly accelerated motion — 
 till diidaming all control, and bieaking down every 
 impediment tuat leaion, morality, or honour throw 
 in the way to refcue us or retard our lain, we pic- 
 
 T 
 
21 8 DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 
 
 cipitate unexpectedly into the lad gulph of vice 
 and infamy. 
 
 Fortunately, however*, an incident intervened in 
 the prefent cafe, which arretted our progrefs down 
 this hideous defcent, 2nd referved us both I hope 
 to conviction of our folly, and repentance of our 
 error. And I have the confolation to reflect, that 
 out of fuch a hoft of dangers and temptations as I 
 was befet with, I have cicaped without the actual 
 perpetration of a deed, which would, had it hap- 
 pened, in all probability have embittered my life. 
 
 While we hugged ourfelves in the fecurity and 
 fecrecy of exprefiing our genuine fentiments, her 
 hi {band dilcovered our wifhes, and all at once 
 took the neceflary meafures for preventing them. 
 So that, overwhelmed with grief and fhame, I 
 directly formed the reiolution to leave Aleppo, and 
 proceed in the bell manner 1 could on my decli- 
 nation. 
 
 Thus you fee, my dear Frederick, was your 
 father, by failing to refill: the firfl imprefiions of an 
 unlawful and difnonourable pafhon, infenfibly led 
 to the very brink of a precipice, the bare remem- 
 brance of which now makes him fhudder with hor- 
 ror. The ftory, by means unneceflary for me to 
 mention, took wind. The folly of fome, the ma- 
 lice of others, and the unaccountable propenfity to 
 fa'iehood of more, trumpeted it about with many 
 exaggerations to my injury, and I was held up * s 
 the deliberate fedi;cer of innocence : but the whole 
 tranfaftion is exr.ct.ly as I have ftated it ; and tire 
 difr.<*reements previous to my arrival at Aleppo, 
 
 lich, in telling the ftorv, they puryofcly left out, 
 were of fuch public notoriety, that every European, 
 even the ccniul himfelf, was fully acquainted with 
 them. This is the coniequence or a deviation 
 from the (i\ : xt rule of right. Treafure it up in 
 v if mind, my child, never to be forgotten ; and 
 .t operate as a caution to you, how you entangle 
 
DISAGREEABLE ADVENTURE. 1 1 9 
 
 yourfelf in the fnares of women : recolieft I 
 my efeape was angularly fortunate, and th 
 efieft of accident; and {biter not youiielf, I 
 becaufe accident leived in one caie it will hi ano- 
 ther. Providence has, for the wile ft of purpo. 
 imulanted in our nature a fondnefs for the fair lex : 
 and fo long as it is ufcd prudently and virtuouflv, 
 it conftitiites the hi ft happinefs of life; but if on 
 the- contrary! it ftimulates us to excefs, impels to 
 injure our fellow creature, or break in upon the 
 repofe of a family ; it is our reproach, our Hume, 
 ir curie, and very frequently our utter and irre- 
 mediable ruin ; add to this, that there is in the 
 general character of women, a capiicioufnefs, .1 
 levity, and a vanity, under tj which 
 
 they fport With men, only to di 
 and evince the force of their chasms, which m?k s 
 the cultivation of their good graces in any way 
 hazardous. To adopt the idea of an old epigram — 
 t; There is no living with them, nor without 
 them." 
 
 As your happinefs, my dear boy, is the fit ft ob~ 
 j eft of my life, my' efforts fhall be turned to the 
 g tiding of your greener years from any premature 
 imprefiions ; and when reafon and matured age fit 
 you for the cultivation and enjoyment of female 
 focietfl, be it mine to direft your fteps away from 
 that clafs, who think rank a fufEcient fanftion for 
 vice, who flare in all the bronze of ariftocratic 
 aiTurance, under a load of obloquy, beneath wh;. 
 the pooreft peafant's wife would link ; who think 
 that wealth and rank confer a riff ht to co.nmtt ex- 
 
 o 
 
 ceffes that would degrade the meaneft of the cr- 
 naille ; and felicitate themfelves with the reflection, 
 that, under the protection of family or an infamous 
 hufbind, they may indulge in enormities, for 
 which the lowed of their lex ate beating hemp 
 in 15 ride well. 
 
220 DEPARTURE FROM ALEPFO.- 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 T 
 
 A HE difcovery to which I alluded in my- 
 j'afl letter, furpriled and grieved me very much ;. 
 and indeed it afionifhed me the more, fYom the 
 manner in which it was communicated. 
 
 One day I received a polite meifrge from the 
 Eritifh conful, faying, he wifhed to fpeak to me 
 as iocn as poflible, upon a bufinefs of great confe- 
 quence. J thought at firft, thai it might be fome 
 plan for my proceeding on my journey — perhaps 
 Company's difpaiches that had znived to go over 
 
 i ; and at intervals, fomething like apprehenfi- 
 ons of the true motive of his fending for in e flew 
 iicrofs my rni>:d. I however went to him, when, 
 after fome little introductory converiauon, he told 
 
 me, that my hoft Mr. had been with him 
 
 that morning, laying before him a complaint of a 
 mod extraordinary and ferious nature, of wh:ch r 
 as it immediately concerned me, he thought hitai- 
 ielf bound to inform me, in order that I might 
 either contradict fo grofs a calumny if it were un- 
 true, or find means to avoid the obvioufty neceffa- 
 ly refult if founded in fact. 
 
 He then proceeded to relate to me. that Mr. 
 
 • had informed him of a ednfpiracy having 
 
 been meditated againfl his peace and honour, be- 
 tween his wife and the Englim gentleman whom 
 he had entertained in his houfe ; that their plan 
 was nothing lels than an elopement, and that he. 
 did not know how loon it might be catried into 
 execution, if not timely prevented ; and finally, 
 thai he had demanded the affiltance of the con 
 and his iateielt with the Turkiih magiftiale to p. 
 
DEPARTURE FROM ALEPPO. 221 
 
 vent it, by granting him an armed force fur the 
 protection of hishoule. 
 
 I was much furpihed to find th.it conversions 
 fo very guarded as ours w,ere di (covered, and more 
 fo that the aggrieved perlon did not think proper 
 to Jpeak to myfelf, and charge me in pet Ion with 
 the offence; never reflecting the while, that all my 
 ideas were military, und his merely commercial : I 
 was alio much at a lols to conj cture how he came 
 to make the dilcovery — hut this I found afterwards 
 he owed to a female lervan:, who had been im- 
 providently intruited by her miftrels with tne 
 fee ret. 
 
 Finding, however, that by whatever means he 
 became acquainted wiih the affair, it was a certain 
 fact that he was apprifed of it, 1 directly acknow- 
 ledged the whole truth with the utmoft candour to 
 
 o 
 
 the conlul ; told him the affair ffep by ffep a> it 
 arofe, a {Turing him (which I really thought to be 
 the cafe) that pity for the lady's deplorable fitua- 
 tion made me liflen to luch a meaiure ; and tliat 
 unlawfui paffion had fo little to do with it, that in 
 all our private conferences we had never tranf- 
 greffjd the limits of purity ; and that her perlon 
 was, at lea (l refpe£ting me, and I firmly believed 
 all mankind, fpotlels and inviolate. I adcled, that 
 great allowances were to be made for a young crea- 
 ture barely eighteen years of age, configned by the 
 wickedneis of avaricious parents to the embraces of 
 a man of fixty-five ; who, amiable and worthy 
 though he wos, in fecial intercourfe with me 
 world (which I knew hiin to be), was yet in the 
 mod indifpenfable point of connubial felicity lb • 
 U'terly defective, as neceffinly to create diiguft 
 and abhorrence in a youthful mind. I remuked 
 to h:m, thai, in the forming of laws, it as plainly 
 appeared on their face, who made them among lb 
 the English, as it docs on the face of the G;ntoo 
 laws, that they were made by the Bratnins : for, 
 
 T 2 
 
222 DEPARTURE FROM ALEPPO. 
 
 as by $,he latter the penally of a few puns* of coti- 
 ries (not value a (hilling) is annexed to the perpe- 
 tration of a crime, for which thofe of another 
 clais loofc their lives ; fo, among us, it appears 
 that our laws are made by the aged, the decrepid, 
 the fenfua), and the rich. Elfe it could never hap- 
 pen that there were in the fame code, laws to pun- 
 ifh marriage between the young and vigoious, and 
 enable the brutality of a parent to take its full 
 fcope, and confign, as in the prefent inflance, 
 youth, beauty, health, and every perlonal attraction, 
 to the arms of age, infirmity, and impotence. And, 
 I concluded by faying, that all parties aiding in 
 fuch an unnatural confederacy fhould be punifhed. 
 The coniul fairly acknowledged there was too 
 much truth in what 1 had faid ; but remarked 
 withal, that it was rather a hazardous experiment, 
 ;md he was lure it would be an endlefs one, to 
 correct all the abufes to which the fallibility of 
 . and his incompetency to form any thing per- 
 fect, neceifirily left iociety and. their laws liable— 
 that the law was written, and it was the duty of 
 every individual to obey it — and that in cafes of 
 adultery, the offence could be juftificd on no folid 
 grounds whatever, for, independent of the feel- 
 ings of the bufband, which perhaps were more 
 poignant in old 3ge than youth, the injury tb his 
 family was not to be got over, in probably giving 
 to him an heir no way a-kin to him. " It would 
 be right, I think." faid he, " to Hop fuch dilpro- 
 portionate matches ; yet, once made, they fhould 
 be as religioufly obierved inviolate as thole of love, 
 among which we almoft as frequently, as in thofa 
 of compulfion, lee intlances of infidelity. If you 
 doubt this," laid he, " lead the records of Dodura' 
 Commons*" 
 
 * Couries, a kind of fmall (hells ufed in India, as a circu- 
 lating medium in place of coin, in value much below the 
 imalle It. copper com — a Pun is a certain number of them. 
 
DEPARTURE FROM ALEPPO. 223 
 
 I agreed to the juftice of what he faid, at the 
 fame time allured him, that my intentions went no 
 farther than \v idling the lady to be refcued from 
 her thraldom, which I told him was dreadful. — 
 " I am lure,*' faid the conful, " that Mr. Camp- 
 bell thinks lo, becaufe I am convinced he would 
 not otherwife fay Co. But may nor," faid he, fmi- 
 l^ng, " may not Mr. C. have deceived himfelf ? 
 thcie are things in which the paflions are ftrangely 
 apt to hoodwink the understanding. However," 
 continued he, breaking off pleaiantlv, " I muft 
 give you all the comfort that truth \v.!i allow me 
 to do : I am fure that the poor lady is condemned 
 to great wreichednefs ; partly from my own obfer- 
 vation. partly from public report, and partly from 
 her own mouth : for you muft know (he has feve- 
 ral times complained to me of her feufband's pee- 
 vifhncls and tyranny ; and even Iw! ought me to 
 ufe my influence and authority to relieve her from 
 
 her milery. Mr. ," continued he, " is a 
 
 man whom on all other accounts I efteem, and va- 
 lue highly. In this inftance he has ened, and I 
 cannot pity him, even though he iuifers all the 
 torments of jealoufy : and as there are laws f»r 
 punidnng with death premature intercourie with 
 the fex, I cannot (ee, any more than you, why the 
 fact -(Being youth to extreme old age fhouid not be 
 equally pumfhed, for I am furc it is equally unna- 
 tural, and Mill more injurious to a (late. Theleare 
 my lentiments," continued he ; •* but let not this 
 declaration induce you to think that I the lets dif- 
 approve of your intermeddling. You have allowed 
 me the privilege of a friend, and I will not iufier 
 it to be made an empty one. You were more cul- 
 pable than many young men would be ; full, be- 
 cause you are married, and fhouid, upon the com- 
 mon principle of doing as you would be dope by, 
 have 1 e framed ; and next, becauie you were en- 
 joying the tweets of hoipitaluy in his home, and 
 
224 DEPARTURE FROM ALEPPO. 
 
 fhould have dafhed from his lips, rather than held 
 to them, the deepefl cup of bitiemeis." 
 
 " But, mv dear hi," faid I, " 1 do not attempt 
 tojuftify — 1 only endeavour to mitigate the matter, 
 and you will recclleft that the very ciicumftance 
 wn.c'.i in one point of view aggravates, in another 
 alleviates the fault : the living in his houle afforded 
 tro!e interviews and expoled me to thofe tempta- 
 tions under which I was near finking — I fhould 
 never have fought them : but he muft be more or 
 Is than man, that could have refitted them : and 
 though I have a bigti len(e of Mr. Conlul's ihict 
 honour and virtue, as well as prudence, he mult 
 excufe me, though I doubt whether he could hi 
 iclf hive refilled io long and fo effectually as I <: 
 J am lure there ate many who will cenlure," that 
 could not." 
 
 The conful finiled, and, turning the difee 
 fiorn its direct line, obferved, thai it was absolutely 
 neceiTary I fhould defift, elle he would be (obliged 
 
 tp uie his. influence and power fo pio'ect Mr. . 
 
 In anfwer to this, I gave him my honour in the 
 firfl place, that 1 would proceed no farther in t .e 
 bufingfs ; and that, on the contrary, I was deter- 
 mined to let out upon my journey to India dire&ly, 
 .if means could be contrived for my conveyance ; 
 adding, that I fhould coufider it as a great favour, 
 in addition to thole I had already leceived at his 
 ids, if he would contrive Lome means to fet ms 
 forward in my route. 
 
 To this he aniwered, that as the making up of a 
 caravan would be extiavagantly expenhve, he knew 
 no means that were not attended with ceita-n hard- 
 ship and eventual danger; but finding me deter- 
 mined at almoft any danger or^iazard to fet off. he 
 piopoied to tend for a man who knewjCjj^flpPPf 
 iouice in thai way, and when he j^wie would talk 
 on the bufinefs ; and in the mean time, re- 
 commended great ciicumipe&ion' ^> me while I 
 
DEPARTURE FROM ALEFPO. 225 
 
 eoutinued at Mr. 's houfe y to which I very 
 
 iolemnly pledged my word. 
 
 Being now conftrained by every confederation, as 
 well of prudence and decency as of inclination, to 
 leave Aleppo immediately; I determined that no 
 common impediments fhould flop me, and waited 
 with impatience the arrival of the perfon On whom 
 the conful refled his hopes of diipatching me. 
 
 He came in the evening, and after a conference 
 with the conful he introduced him to me, and ac- 
 quainted me that he was a Tartar, and one of the 
 vail number of that defcription who are employed 
 by the Turkifh (late in carrying difpatches from 
 coi:vt to the various viceroys and bafhaws, and in- 
 terchangeably between them again j that they were 
 men on whole fidelity the utmoft reliance could be 
 had ; and that this man, who had an excellent cha« 
 ia£ler, had agreed to take me to Bagdad, provided 
 J would fubmit to the difguife of a Tartar. 
 
 The agreement between us I entirely (ubrmtted 
 to the dilcretion of the conful, who had the good- 
 nefs to fettle it thus: — The Tartar was to deliver 
 me fafe at Bagdad ; to fupply me and my fervanr r 
 who acted as interpreter, with an ample fufSciency 
 of provifions and horfes on the road; to exchange 
 my horie for me as often as I plealed, and to go at 
 iuch a rate, whether fafter or flower, as I thought 
 proper : for this he was to receive one hundred 
 pounds: and I further promifed, as an encourage- 
 ment to him, that if he acted to my falisfaeYion, I 
 would, on our arrival at Bagdad, add a douceur of 
 twenty pounds. 
 
 The next day he came, and 1 had a diftinft view 
 of this my new fellow traveller and fuppoled matt- 
 er, for in leverai places, I was to pais for his Have. 
 He was one of thole Itriking character figures that 
 a painter would like to take a {ketch of — and me- 
 thought Tartar was written legibly in every line- 
 ament of his countenance and perfon. — He was 
 
226 DEPARTURE FROM ALEPPO. 
 
 tall, mufcular, and bony — his figure befpoke grcrt 
 hardihood, ftrength, and activity — r.or could the 
 trowfers which he wore conceal the Heiculean tex- 
 ture of his limbs — his {boulders were expanded to 
 an enormous breadth — he was unincumbered with 
 flcfh, or indeed lather extremely lean — his fore- 
 head, though partly concealed beneath his turban, 
 was very high — his nofe large, hoiked, {harp, and 
 prominent — a pair of f nail, fierce, bLck, pem- 
 eyes, barely feparated bv.the role, arid a formidable 
 pair of muftachiof, which he caiefully Hacked with 
 pomatum into a point refembling an awlblade, and 
 which mcved like the whifkers of a runing car, 
 with every word he fpoke, gave a whimfical fero- 
 city to the countenance, bevond the reach of tie- 
 icrip-ion. and rendered him akogeihei as dlfcour 
 
 6dental friend, as ever a Chriftian truir- 
 ed his life to fmce Mahomet firft let up the trade 
 of a prophet. .He iurveyed me with gi eat atten- 
 tion — opened his mouth two or three times like a 
 gafping pike, as if to fpeak — ftroaked his whifkers 
 as of: en — and at lad pronounced that he would un- 
 dertake to conduct me ; adding, in allufion to my 
 black hair and dark complexion, that I looked more 
 1-ke a native, than any Frank he had ever lecn. 
 He ordeied me to cut my hair quite fnort, to pro- 
 vide myfelf with the Tartar dreis and cap, in the 
 fafnion of his own-; and laying he would call c:i 
 me in proper time, departed. 
 
 Thus equipped, we iet out, not without great pain 
 . regret on my part ; p^in at leaving a rood beau- 
 1 young woman, whom I. pitied. unci cileerned, 
 fubjeftto ;he re fen J merit of a hufbi'nd, at once jea- 
 m nature, pec^'iih from h^bit. and enraged 
 from her 01 a uneflujyo^al demor)ftrati< 
 
 f-giei a g been behaved b) 
 
 ch a ve is dilemma, 
 
 : :uie (u )po, this affiir \ 
 
 re^. . in - variety of unfavourable 
 
ARRIVAL AT DIARBEKER. 227 
 
 die different new comers from England ; and as a 
 ftory is that commodity which of all others honed 
 people do not love to fleal any thing from, in 
 its pailage though their hands, it found its way in 
 various forms (none of them however tending to 
 foften it) to many of my friends and connections, 
 thole from whom of all others I wifhed to conceal 
 it. Labouring under fuch calumnies, it cannot be 
 confidered as a violation of decorum, or unneceffa- 
 ry infraction upon delicacy, if I ftate the truth, 
 in order, though I cannot acquit myfelf of cen- 
 surable conduct, at leaft not filently to lubmit 
 to unlimited calumny, and charges of crimes which 
 I hope 1 have too much honour and integrity to 
 commit. 
 
 I mull add, that previous to my departure the 
 conful did every thing that it was poilible for him 
 to do, conducive to my fafety and accomodation on 
 the road, which as we wefe obliged to g« to the 
 city of Diarbeker, a great length out of our way, 
 he obferved would be long, dreary, fatiguing, and 
 hazardous ; he piocurcd me from others, and 
 gave me himfelf, a number of letters, and at pai- 
 ring defired me to comfort myfelf with the reflect- 
 ion, that when I arrived at my journey's end, I 
 fhould have to boaft, that I went to India by a 
 route never travelled by an European before. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 xjLS I became familiarifed to my Tartar 
 
 guide I found his character ditclbfe much, be-'ter 
 
 traits than his firii: appearance befpoke, and I began 
 
 nubility to think t;m a very entertaining fel- 
 
 iciving That I wa's very low Ip'ritei' 
 
2^8 ARRIVAL AT DIAR3EKER. 
 
 and thoughtful, he exhibited manifeft marks of 
 companion ; and taking it into his head that I was 
 actually removed for ever from my friends and my 
 family, he fpoke in a flyle of regret and feeling, that 
 didgrear. honor to his heart : and to fay the truth, he 
 did every thing in his power to alleviate my feelings, 
 converting with me either by means of the inter- 
 pretei, or in broken lingua franca ; fupplyingall my 
 wants cheerfully and abundantly ; changing holies 
 with me as often as 1 peafed, and going flow or 
 golloping forward jufl as bed luited my inclination 
 or humour. 
 
 The firft object he feemed to have in view on 
 our journey, was to impieis me with a notion of his 
 conlequence and authority, as a meilenger belong- 
 ing to the Sultan. As all thofe men are employed 
 by the fn ft magiftrates in the country, and aie, as 
 it were, th« links of communication between them, 
 they think themfelves of great importance in the 
 flate; while the great men whole bufineis they are 
 employed in, m^ke them feel the weight of author- 
 ity, and treat them with the greateil contempt : 
 hence they become habitually fervile to their fuperi- 
 ors, and by natural conlequence infolent and over- 
 bearing to their inferiors, or thofe who being in 
 their power they conceive to be fo. As carriers of 
 difpaches, their power and authority wherever they 
 go is infome pcints undiiputed ; and they can com- 
 pel a fupply of provifion5, horfes, and attendants, 
 wherever it luits their occafions ; nor dare any man 
 refill their richt to take the hoife from under him 
 
 .O 
 
 to proceed on the Emperor's bufinefs, be the owner's 
 occafion ever lo prefling. 
 
 My feelings, which I can tell you were altoge- 
 ther of the mod unplealant kind, letved as a ftimu- 
 lus to my mind, and increaied my anxiety to get 
 forward ; I therefore pufhed on as fad as tiie hoiles, 
 which were in general excellent, could cany me : 
 and as we halted at a number of itages to gei fiefh 
 
ARRIVAL AT DIARBEKER, 229 
 
 hoi fes and provifions, my Tartar guide bad frequent 
 opportunities of indulging his felf-irnpoit?nce, and 
 -displaying his great aathority and power. As foon 
 as he flopped at a caravanfera, he immediately cal- 
 led luibly about him in the name of the Sultan, 
 demanding with an imperious and menacing tone 
 of voice, frefh horfes, victuals, &c. on the indant. 
 The terror of this great man operated like magic ; 
 nothing could exceed the activity of the men, the 
 brifknels of the women, and the terror of the chil- 
 dren ; for the caravanleras are continually attended 
 by numbers of the very lowed claffe* of the people ; 
 but no quickneis of preoaration, no effort or in- 
 dud:y couid latisfy mv gentleman ; he would (hew 
 ins his power in a (till more finking point of view, 
 ami fall belabouring them with his whip, and kick- 
 ing them with all his might. J mud coo f< Is 1 was 
 much hurt at this extravagant abufe of update low- 
 er, an-> was two or three limes on the porqt of in- 
 terfering ; but fortunately, lecoliected that <■ would 
 neither oe in character, nor have any g\ad t ft' cl, 
 anci »hat it I prelumed to (peak, my gu de -vould 
 be obliged in my defence >o give me a d->gg' ,n g in 
 order to prevent lulpicion. 
 
 Tlvs inconfidetite tyranny and cruelty, I had 
 afterwards reaion to believe, was by no means a 
 part of his natural difpohtion ; but vanity, to which 
 To m^ny .among us in Europe fall vicVms. n-^ed 
 him ro excefiVs, which I dare fay his heart private- 
 ly condemned. 
 
 It was on the fifth or fixth day (I cannot pre- 
 ci ely lay which.) after oui leaving Aleppo, thai we 
 got to the city "of DiarWeker, the capital of the 
 province of tha: name, having palled over an ex- 
 tent of ccuntiy of nctwecn three and four hundred 
 milei. moil of u blefled with the greated fertility, 
 producing, in the tew cultivated paits, giain, fruits 
 ot various kinds, and fi!k in great variety and 
 abundance, and abounding with as rich padures i.$ 
 
 U 
 
230 ARRIVAL AT DIARBEKER. 
 
 I ever beheld, covered with numerous herds and' 
 flocks. The air was charmingly temperate in the 
 day-time, but, to my feeling, extremely cold at 
 night. 
 
 Yet notVvithfhnding the extreme fertility of this 
 country, the bad adnnni ft ration of government, con,- 
 fpiring with the indolence of the inhabitants, leaves 
 it unpopulous and uncultivated. Diarbeker, pro* 
 per, called alio Mefopotamia, from its lying be- 
 tween the two famous rivers Tigris and Euphrates, 
 and by Mofes called Padan Aram, that is to 'ay 
 — *^The fruitful Syria;" abounds with corn, wine, 
 o 1, fruits, and ail the neceff-.nes of life. It is iup- 
 poled to be the ieat of the E-rthly Paiadife, and all 
 geographers agree that it was there the deicendants 
 of Noah firft lettled after the flood. 
 
 Inugmftcant as U.oie ciicumftances may appear to 
 mere calculators of p refit and lols, it canrx t be de- 
 nied that they have a powerful and pleafing eficft 
 on the refined imagination. To be Heading that 
 ground where Abraham trod; where Nahor the fa- 
 ther of Rebecca lived : and where Lnban, to whom 
 Jacob fled to avoid his brother Eiau's iclentment, 
 and whom he ferved fourteen yeais for the love 1 e 
 bore to Rachel, was to me a ciicumftance produc- 
 tive of delightful ienlations. How finelv has that 
 giant of the pen, Johnfon, jnftihed thole ienta- 
 s in his Tour to the Highlands of Scotland and 
 A :flern lflancs ; — defcribing his emotions on vilit- 
 ing the 4 mous ifland of Iona, or Colombkill, he 
 day: — '* \A e were now treading that illuftrious ifland 
 ch was once the Luminary of the Caledonian 
 
 ano rovms baibarians 
 o 
 
 e-ge, and bleflings of 
 re! ;j:cn; To abftract the mind from ail local emo- 
 tic;., v- I uld be im] ofiible if it were endeav 
 and would be foohfh if it were pofiible. V\ hat- 
 ever withdraws us fiom the power ot our let.:t — 
 whatever makes the ^aft, the aidant, or the-iuu 
 
ARRIVAL AT DIARBEKER. 23 [ 
 
 predominate over the prefent, advances us in lhe 
 dignity of thinking beings. Far fio:n me, and 
 from my fiiends, be Inch frigid philoionhv. as my 
 eondutt us indifFerent and unmoved over any 
 ground which has been dignified by wifdom, b a- 
 nery, or virtue ! — that man is little to be envi* d 
 fe parriotifm would not gain foice upon \hz 
 i of Marathon, or whoifc piety would nut grow 
 warmer among the ruins or lona." 
 
 The city ok D.aib^ker itfeii is (ituated in a de- 
 lightful p4ain on the banks of trie river Tigns.^r.d 
 rly ai its h?ad ; itis one of- the ri moft 
 
 popu! : Tur- 
 
 key ; i with many pi zzats and mar- 
 
 ket places in the Turk i til Hyie, and a large magni- 
 ficent moque, formerly a Chriftian church ; for 
 Chriftianity flourifhed over this country to late zs 
 the fixth century. There is even now a feci:, 
 whole patriarch flill refides here : and they Chew 
 on the road near the town, a chapel where the 
 holy man Job is laid to be buried. This city is 
 fupphed amply with water by a canal cut from the 
 Tigris, and has many caravanleras on both iides of 
 the river. 
 
 Few countries in the world exceed that about 
 this city for natural richnefs and beauty : — ihe 
 bread and wine are excellent — the fruit bevond 
 conception 'delicious — and my- friend the Tartar 
 took ore, under pretence of fupercilioas hauteur, 
 to tear in pieces a couple of fowls, and hand me 
 now a leg, now a wing, till I made the mod deli- 
 cious repaft 1 ever remember to have eat in my 
 life. 
 
 It is computed that there are refident in this city 
 no lels than twenty thou land Chriftian inhabitants, 
 iome of whom are of the Church of Rone ; — mi 
 perhaps it is owing to that mixture, that trie fair 
 iex have more freedom, and the men more polite- 
 and affability, than thole of any other city in 
 
2$2 ARRIVAL AT DIARBEKER. 
 
 the empire : — the chief bufinefs there, is making 
 that fine leather commonly called Turkey leather. 
 
 Figure to yourielf, my dear Frederick, my 
 Tartar guide, who was an admirable actor, fitting 
 at a caravaniera in Rate at his dinner, devouring 
 excellent fowlsj(Jbpice pillaws, and delicious fruit, 
 in as great pomp as a bafhaw ; .and in order to keep 
 up the lemblance of authority over me, to favour 
 jny di [guile, handing to me, who fat at humble 
 ciiitance, a part of his provisions. You may form 
 to yourielf an idea of the Icene ; but all the ef- 
 forts of imagination mud fail fhort of thi manner,, 
 the figure, the words, the looks, and the actions 
 of the Tartar ; lometimes a ft, -cling contemptuous 
 pity, lometimes lupercilious anoyance •, lometimes 
 brutal fternels, and lometimes the gentle biandilh- 
 ments of conlcious fuperiority ; and all in luch a 
 mafto ly ftile of performance, that I doubt whe- 
 ther Garrick btmieif, with all his powers of coun- 
 tenance, couid outdo him. Critical though my 
 fitaaiion \>? c . a::d much as I was har railed -.villi the 
 corrosions ©f mental paioj the extravag nt sciion 
 and ludicrous pom polity of this nun frequently 
 overboie my prudence, and corhpeHe I rr.e to laugh 
 incontinently and loudly ; — en all fuch ic.a.ions 
 he would put his hands a-kimbo, draw up his eye- 
 brows to his t urban, 'crew down tile corners of his- 
 mouth in the mofl rueful manner, atid give a loud 
 whew ! with his eyes fixed in a lime at me, ijll 
 entirely overcome with laughter, anu ready to link 
 under it, I clipped my face between mv hands,, 
 and, b: i co.ild, bowed in token of lorrow 
 
 and lion ; whe , th reatnifg^ me vehement Iy r 
 
 ana at rt>e lane tunc uuertng a h .icnuu.e, exprefii- 
 on of doub that he was afraid ne had iiaa a i idiot 
 impofed on ..im, he wo .Ad huft a about, the 
 
 horiis to be got readv, and order me to get 
 horteback, with many denunciations of 
 trea : mc:i% and a taouiaud fLpurilhes of 
 • Ye* my head. 
 
CONDUCT OF THE TARTAR, &c. 233 
 
 As I have rode along muling upon ihe contemp- 
 tible {lratag*ms to which I was reduced, in order to 
 get "through this country, for no other reafon but 
 becaule I was a Chriftiafl, I could not help reflect- 
 ing with forrow on t.hc melancn^W efiedts of iuper- 
 fluion, and regretting that trWFplace, whica in 
 the times of primitive firnplicity was called the 
 Terreftrial Paradife ; that place where God hrft 
 planted man after the flood ; wheie the god-like 
 Abraham and the holy Job breathed the pure air of 
 piety and firnplicity ; that place which from ail 
 thoie circumftances ought to be confidered above 
 all others as the univerial inheritance of mankind, 
 fhould now be cutofr from all but a horde of lenfe- 
 lels bigo's, barbarous fanatics, and inflexible ty- 
 rants. And I could not help confidering with 
 melancholy concern, the blindneis and infatuation 
 of men, who, lefs earned to accon;moda!e thern- 
 felves than injure otheis, flint out their feilow- 
 cteatures from that which they themfelves will not 
 uie, and. while they fuller millions of the richeft 
 acres in the univerfe to be untilled, and fpend their 
 fweetnefs in the defert air, with wicked jealouly, 
 snd envy more than diabolical, begrudge to others 
 the little fpot on which they ftand, and chafe them 
 as they would a lavening tiger ftom their country. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 A v 
 
 .ZjlS we advanced towards the fouthward 
 
 and eaftward, in our w«jy from D=aibckerto 
 
 ■id, 1 found the a-r become feufibly waj 
 
 obferved that the dilpofuipn of. the people 
 
 moreand more brutal. My guide's conduct 
 
 £or he knew them well] became pioporuoniely 
 
 U 2 
 
3 CONDUCT OF THE 
 
 artful, and my manners were of courfc to grow fo 
 much the humbler. I obferved, however, that his 
 authority continued the fame, and that he leemed 
 to exert it with greater rigour ; not in feverity or 
 chattiiement. but^n exafting implicit obedience. 
 Yet ftiil he eviddJP^ atfced with great caution and 
 circumlpeclion ; for, in feme diftri£b, he either 
 avoided the little villages by a circuitous route, or 
 dallied through them at a very quick pace, while 
 the gaping multitude confideied us as on a difparch 
 of hafte and importar.ee — in others, he entered the 
 towns without reierve, and left it to chance to de-~ 
 cide whether we fhould be difcovered or not. At 
 lome caravanleras he treated me with affefted neg- 
 ligence, at others he made me eat with him and 
 drink wine, Oi which, in lome places, he hitnfelf 
 drank copioufly, and at others as fcrupuloufiy re- 
 frained from. And lomeiimes we lay at night out 
 in i he open air, rather than enter a town ; on 
 which oc-cafions I found the weather as piercing 
 cold as it was diltrefsfully hot in the day lime. 
 Bred, as the man was, a mixture of Have and, ty- 
 rant, 1 can fuppoie iome parts of this conduct to 
 8rife from capt:ce ; but, as he was naturally kind, 
 as tnany of thole aberrations from the ufual mode 
 
 travelling were aUtended with hardfhip and in- 
 convenience to himfclf, and as my lervant and the 
 ir were cleaiiy of opinion he was right,. 
 I arri rather diipoied to believe that he, on the 
 
 ole, acted from principles of found lenle and 
 policy. 
 
 He frequently advifed mc again ft indulging in 
 it was unmanly, indecorous, incon- 
 • h the gravity becoming a wiie man. and 
 
 ,CJ r US. 
 
 One evening we came to a caravantera much fa- 
 . y being ex rem< ly hot, and we hav- 
 rie very hard — whether it w, caprice or 
 . fuggeftion of policy that move 
 
TARTAR GUIDE. 235 
 
 I cannot fay, but he was certainly more cUfpofed to 
 play the tyrant than I had ever before feen him. 
 He flogged the men who took, the hories, kicked 
 every one he met, made the houfe ring with hij 
 enormous voice ; directed luppej^to be got ready, 
 ate growling, and finding fauif^Ph every thing ; 
 and under pretence of difliking the ingiedients of 
 an excellent piiiaw, handed it over to me, faying, 
 c; Here, Jsmmel (the name he called mc), here, 
 take this filth, and cram it down thy coarje throat-, 
 it is only fir for a Frank" — I took it with bed air 
 of humility I could aflame ; and tearing the meat 
 with my fingers, which I alio uled inftead of a 
 ipoon to eat the rice, fwaliowed it eagerly ; he 
 watching me ail the time attentively. When I had 
 finiihed it, I gave him a hint in the Frank lan- 
 guage, that I fhould like to wafh it down with fome 
 wine ; but he did not, or rather would not under- 
 stand me. 
 
 Supper done, he ordered a fervant to attend lrrrt 
 with lome water, and directed him to waih his feet ; 
 while that operation was performing, he continued 
 menacing every one about him. My fervant, who- 
 iat next me and behind him, interpreted every thing 
 he faid. " Yes, ye {Lives, " laid he, as he lolled 
 back upon His cufhion, " yes, I will make the bed 
 of you wafh ray feet ; for who fnail refute to waili 
 the feet or him, who reprelents the Sultan of the 
 World, the Sv>n of Muhoinet, the Mcflcnger of 
 the Lord ?" The poor fellow proceeded ia^his 
 humble office, and only interrupted him by /a^Jm *, 
 " Blcfled ne my Lord the lulun, and gK>ry be to- 
 the Lord our God,- and Mahomet Ins 
 " Yes, yes,*' continued my Tartar, '• bleis Gotland 
 the prophet, and pray for his fervant our tulfan, 
 and all who lepretent him 1 ke me, that flives^f 
 your description are permitted 10 live : nay, thou 
 afh this Frank's led :" il - 1 rnin^ ,'o me 
 trjihau air of magi fterial tejadsfnefs, M Jimmei," 
 
2 3 6 
 
 CONDUCT OF THE 
 
 faid he. tt hold forth thy fee f , and let them be; 
 wafhed by this difciple of Al/ — 1 fay, hold iorth 
 thy feet." 
 
 Scaiccly able to refrain from laughter at this 
 Bom Sardinian o^ihe E'ift, and his pompous man- 
 ner of i filling Worders, I drew up my trowfers 
 and took off my boots — the man brought frelh wa- 
 tci, and feii to rubbing my feet* with great good 
 will and humility ; yet evidently felt i'o much hurt 
 at the humiliation, that 1 was ferry for it, and 
 would rather have difpenied with the wa thing, 
 though it was a luxmy. 
 
 In the midfl of this operation, the Tartar, who 
 was j;cl : ning on his Ctt&ion, imoking. joie up, 
 and ftalking two or three times acrofs the room, 
 with the n :crous a;r of ieif-conccit and im- 
 
 portance, took his tobacco pipe from his mouth, 
 Lrandiihed it in oftentatiojs parad\ and in the tone 
 and manner 12 her of one that wa^ raving than of a 
 man in his fober ienies, burtl out with anemphati- 
 cal exprefiion of fatisfa&ion, and (aid; ; - This it is 
 to be proie&ed by a great man : Imen ialani 
 
 to him ana w.lh his feet." 
 
 The extravagance of this fentimenr. the ar 
 dity of its application, and the conlequential to- 
 
 5nity of his ttlion and countenance while he 
 ke, altogether rufhed upon me with inch impe- 
 tuous fojee, that 1 could not re ii tt it, and, in fpite 
 of i effort" to reftrain myielf, bur ft into an 
 
 imn. fit of laughter. 
 
 he pencil of Hogarth, the pen of Shake- 
 fpeare, or the powers of a Garrick, 1 might attempt 
 to g ! his coun enance, when, turn- 
 
 ne cor.vu led with lai I 
 
 l it, 1 fa; I could not do it jui- 
 
 t:c . Such 1 oombin I ludicrous .ion 
 
 I neve 1 ras indeed an epitome of ail 
 
 I was rifibie fury— it was fjiy I 
 
TARTAR GUIDE. 237 
 
 rather grinned than frowned ; though under it were 
 to be ieen fhame and mortification, iorrow and re- 
 ientraent, price and degradation, filly bafhrulnels 
 'and decayed importance. For lome time he flood 
 transfixed to the Ipot, his eyes gliitening like thole 
 of a rat in a trap ; his pointe^tayh ikeis moving 
 with the contortions of his lips, and his mouth; 
 every now and then opening l;ke tne beak of a 
 \v6unded hawk. To utter his ieniations he was 
 unable ; and he continued in this ftate, not only 
 til! my laughter was abated, but till I had lime to 
 refi.ft and be ferioufly concerned. 
 
 At length, without iaying a lentence, he wheel- 
 ed about, threw off ins dippers, drew on his boots, 
 vociferated till he brought ail the people of the 
 caiavanlera about him, and ordered holies to be 
 ready jnftanily. A- orders iiom iuc:i a perton 
 were not likeiy to He diipbfeyed, the horfes were? 1 
 got ready. 1 law that I muft either proceed, or 
 come to an open rupture with hirn ; lo recohect- 
 ing that I was myieif in Fault, that a d p*ite might 
 be fatal, and thai at aii events it was only the 1- 
 mour of the moment, I lre>y on my boots too, 
 and was ready lo go, though I was m ich fitter tot 
 a twelve hours' nap than for 3a -hour's travelling. 
 on horfeback. 
 
 We mounted immediately, and it was my good 
 fortune to have the beft. hoiie. lie let out u r >on 
 the gallop, the moon filming as aright almofi as 
 day ; I put forward my hoiie, and kept rather oe- 
 foie him, which vexed him lo, that he bed t.fre 
 poor animal he rode on raoft unmeiciruily. At length 
 after about eight or ten miles riding, he catt;^ a 
 halt — demounted, and laid he would ie(t there all 
 night. I law it was <h re lent men t ; nut knowing 
 that it would be in vain to lernonitrate, I de- 
 mounted too ; and, judging thai the belt way to 
 tify him in return, was to comply with afLcfced • 
 approbation, turned to my iervant and told i> 
 
23S* CONDUCT OF THE TARTAR, &c. 
 
 (knowing that it would go from him to the Tartar) 
 that I was delighted with the beauty of the night ; 
 remarking at the lame time, that lying in the iweet 
 fa'u j;ious air was far preferable to being confined 
 in the lultiy hhh of a catavanlera. 
 
 As foon as this^as communicated *o the Tartar, 
 he remarked, ih.t the open air was tfie fitted place 
 for the beads of the fore ft, and therefore fuitable 
 to a Fjank : but for his parr, he had much rather 
 repoie on a cufhion, which he {hoard have dune, 
 had it- not been for my accurfed rifible/faculti 
 
 Here the converfation refted, and we fell afleepi 
 
 w hours he awoke us, and «.* e fet forwi ! : 
 
 after fome paufe, he began in the following m; .- 
 
 ner, which was interpreted to me, as he ipoke, 
 
 by my fervant : 
 
 " Surely God made laughter for the derifion and 
 fhame of mankind, and gave it to the Franks and 
 the monkies ; for the one ha, ha, ha's, and the 
 other he, he, he's, and both are malicious, mil- 
 ch ievous, and good for nothing but to fret and tan- 
 talize all that come acrofs them." 
 
 Here lie paufed, as waiting for fomething to be 
 faid : however, I remained filent. At length, he- 
 continued : li Not but that, with all their laughter, 
 they have the wifdom to lake fpecial care of them- 
 fe vzs ; for half a dozen monkies, will he, he, he, 
 £iid empty a whole orchard of its fruit in the reck- 
 oning of a hundred ; and a Frank will ha, ha, ha r 
 and eat you up pillaws and poult ly like a wolf, and 
 drink ut> wine with ihe lame moderation that a 
 oamel drinks up water." 
 
 thought I fhould have ehoaked with fmothered 
 laughter : 1 would not however interrupt him, 
 and (o contrived to keep it to myfeif : he proceded 
 to apothegmar.ie : 
 
 " Bin with all the'.r he, he, he's, and ha. ha, 
 ha's, ii I- met mes turns cut that they are c- 1 
 the monkty is ieszed in a trap and ca^ed or knot 
 
REFLECTIONS, &c. 239 
 
 ed in~the head, and the Frank is put in jv'I, and 
 baftinadoed or hanged ; and then the tune i^ chan- 
 ged, and it is Oh, ho, ho ]" -H. ie he began to 
 mimic crying fo admirably, and at the lame time fo 
 ridiculoufly ; that I bur ft out laughing agatp. 
 
 " Oblerve, Jimmel," laid he haftily, " .be-ve* 
 you can't refrain ! Bui by our holy c " laid 
 
 he ieiioufly, " it may end as 1 laid : io look to your-* 
 felf, and avoid laughter in catavanferas, or we : 
 for there arc places, a.id that was pue of ther 
 night, where lulpicion would ruin you. And if 
 you loft your life, what fhouid 1 lay for myieU on 
 my return to Aleppo ? Eh, what fljould I fay for 
 myfelf ? Ha ha, ha ! would not do. No, no, they 
 would not believe it, and I ihouid lofe my 
 chan&er. " 
 
 <; Why don't you laugh yourfelf ?" faid I. 
 
 " Very feldom, or rather neve:," rem rud-he ; 
 Si at leaft I would not in time ot danger. No, no, 
 none but Chiiftians and monkies makes a pra&ica 
 of laughing — Tuiksand Tartais are wi:er." I pro- 
 mi fed him, thaf I would u> fu<ure like more care ; 
 and, by way of appealing him Willi a ihtle flat.ery, 
 (aid, that he played his part fo admirably, it was 
 impoflible 10 red ft the jmpulle. But h.qjanfweredi 
 wiih a grave face, that his a£t;on in that caie was of 
 too ferious uature to be made a object of merriment 
 - — and adviled me to believe it .0. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 T 
 
 A HE folic itude of my guide for my fafety 
 was the eaineftueis of a man of bufineis zealous 
 
 the utmoft punctuality the 1 
 be hau utiueriauen ; and I muft oblerve to you. 
 
24© REFLECTIONS ON THE 
 
 the whole of his conduft evinced a precifton and 
 pui:&ua!lv of dealing rarely found hi out ntetcourfo 
 with mankind. Previous to It ving Aiep o. he f ad 
 undertaken to convey me fafe — he \v. s, as \ou may 
 already perceive, indefatigable and unremitting in 
 his endeavouts 'o go ;o; he nad proonfed to iup- 
 ply me with foe I — o he di rl, in the rrofl ample 
 manner ; he promifed i«> -,o as I pteafed fart or flow 
 — fo he did ; he prom f d t<» change her s with 
 me, as often as I thought propei to cleiire — he did 
 fo. Bit beyoi d this, he hemed to carry h - cae 
 cf n:e no farther than lo ;n\ bale i>f good? he - ight 
 have in his chaige. He was bound to deliver me 
 fafe, in good order a:vo cond u-n. ai B^dad : fo 
 much he was determined to do, and i.o more did 
 he think of. 1 had got iett- rs to the bulhaws of 
 fome of the towns thi - to pais ; 
 
 but as : very of a \< iter is, 30 the 
 
 coftoin of that country always ac comparted with a 
 prefen*, I tho g u t it better to decline delivering 
 then, except \\ ..en necefiry Compelled — though 
 the ft-te or the country was to unh hat we 
 
 often bad occafion for x gv 
 
 As 'he ren flair 
 
 was 1 little decayed^ the Tartar h nto 
 
 gr ir, arc to falk with his ultra rce ; 
 
 for m " 5, according to th< f! w 1 f 
 
 fpints, either (ul!< nt 01 ex 
 
 ciou^. His tongi e might be cou<. d» 
 mc<c:. hv wh'icrr the warmth or c his 
 
 temper might be co'culated, and th < :: lemes, of 
 ^garrulity and taciturnity we-ie . His 
 
 c nvniaticn. however, wsm very circuinferibed, and 
 contifKd chiefly of (loi.es of him cf anu hi; hone, 
 th* amazing journeys he maae, and the ft 
 hood lie potoftoed. One ciicunnlai.ee 1 mud 
 juftice mention, as I thir.k it marks ftrongiy :nc ha- 
 bitual del ; .u modefty oi ibis pe i . Al- 
 though he frequently lumenieamy b. . nt frotn 
 
SLAVE TRADE. 241 
 
 my family} and although we were for eighteen clays 
 ■continually converting on a variety of occafions that 
 might lead to the fubjeCc, he never once talked of 
 women ; never, in all his pity for my fituation, 
 glarced even remotely at the pofiibili'y of my get- 
 ting a lubftitute in that way ; never hinted that he 
 thought of them himfelf. On feeing women, co- 
 ming to the wells, they remined me of lome of the 
 dories in the Old Teflamcnt. I mentioned it, but 
 it went no farther ; for whenever the fubjefl was 
 flarted, he threw cold water on it. 
 
 That he conceived me to be in fome refpe£ts a 
 parcel of property, 1 have good reafon to believe : 
 for I obierved that at fome caravanleras the people 
 collected round me, and regarded me with ftrong 
 fymptoms of furprife and pity ; lome viewed me 
 with commiieration, fome with contempt ; but not 
 one creature, however wretched or abject, feemed 
 to envy my fituation. 
 
 I was the more confirmed in this opinion by an 
 incident that happened between Diarbeker and 
 Moful. One morning I was unu(uaily overcome 
 with the fatigues of the preceding day : the Tar- 
 tar called me, iummoned me to horie ; and finding 
 that I gave no anfwer, nor fhewed any token of 
 awaking, he lifted me in his arms bodily from my 
 couch (iuch was his (Irength that he did it without 
 any difficulty), carried me out without the leuft 
 ceremony, and, befoe I was fo completely awake 
 as to be lenfible of my fituation, had me fixed up- 
 on a horle read) to clepait. 
 
 A tran faction lo very lingular, you may well con- 
 clude, furpriied me at the time, and would not 
 readily be forgotten : fuch a crowd of fbange, con- 
 fufed, and incongruous thoughts and ienlations as 
 occurred to me, I never before experienced : they 
 were painful, 'they were furpri.fi ng — but I was in 
 fi'cb a ftate that I could not afterwards analyfe 
 tiism. The chief reflection that arofe from it was, 
 
 X 
 
242 REFLECTIONS ON THE 
 
 that human fcntiment mud be in a deplorable /late 
 of degradation indeed, when luch a ciicumftance 
 could occur from the notion that a man was as 
 much an aflet or piece of property, could be tranf- 
 fcrred by the fame means, and moved in the fame 
 unfeeling manner, as any portion of inert matter 
 that makes up a bale of merchandize. Of the 
 truth of this pofition I had loorf after a melancholy 
 proof, in an incident which, though lamentable, 
 was attended with fuch ludicrous circumflances, 
 that even now I never think of it without fmiling 
 — -fmiling, as I did then, with a heart bleeding 
 with pity. 
 
 One morning I was awakened before day-break 
 with a buftie in the caravanlera where we lodged. 
 I conjectured that the Tartar was preparing to get 
 foiward, and role in order to loie no fine. I was 
 io far right in my conjectures : the hoi [e& wexe rea- 
 cv, and I came out to moj^nt, and was very much 
 iurpriled to perceive (everal holies before me 
 loaded with fomething which flood erect from their 
 backs, and which I had barely light to dilcern 
 were not men. I concluded ihat they were bales 
 of merchandize packed in a particular fo>m, and 
 d no queftions till full day-light diicloled tome 
 that they were human c.eatuies tied up in lacks, 
 and fattened aitride on the holies' backs. Tneie 
 "was a ftrange union of horror and oddity in the 
 conception, that ftruck me at once with' a mixed 
 emotion of indignation, pity, and mirth. — The 
 former however got the better, and I afkea rr.y 
 iervant with iome warmth what it meant — He l >:d 
 that the lacks contained iome yqupg women w 
 the Tartar bad bought.— " Good God !'•' faid J, 
 " is it pofuble that he can have bought wretched 
 females to treat them with fo little tendernels ?" 
 « He lias bought them," returned 1 my Iervant. 
 tk in the way of Uafcc. not for picture." 
 
SLAVE TRADE. 243 
 
 " Suppofe he has," fa'td I, " fuppofe even they 
 were met), not to mention young women, how can 
 he imagine trtat they will iurvive this ? Tied up 
 and Iweltered in a lack — fattened crois-legs, on a 
 horfe, and driven at inch an arri«fe : ng Mte (for by 
 ti:is time we had let forward, and another Tartar 
 was whipping the hones up all the time, and dri- 
 ving them on) — how is it pofiible they can lur- 
 viva ? They mud be (mothered — they mud be 
 (haltered to pieces — tney rnud tie iii .pped, e:;co- 
 jiated, and tortured to death !'" 
 
 " If L might prefarrte to advife,'* faid he, " I 
 would fay that you rnd belter make, no remarks 
 upon it : it would only get them perhaps worie 
 treated, and raiie his anger again it you," 
 
 To conclude, I took his advice, ami kept my 
 mind to myfelf. The unfortunate women were in 
 this manner carried fift^aniles, at the end of which 
 their tender-hearted puWnaler difpofed of them in 
 lb me way of keeping till his return •, when I tup- 
 poie they wete to be carried back in facks aftride 
 upon horles, all the way to Aleopo, there to hi 
 fold to the higheft bidder. 
 
 To us, my Frederick., who live in a country 
 where an hour's detention in a houfe Rgainft our 
 will is punidied as unlawful imprisonment, and 
 who feel and value the rich, treafure* of liberty 
 above all elu.thiy bieffings, the bare idea of (iavery 
 appears horrible ; when the mifenes of fiavery are 
 iharpened by cruelty, our indignation burns at the 
 offence : but (uch a complicated piece of enormity 
 as that I have mentioned, almoft tranfeernis belief* 
 and indignation is ioft in amazement. There are 
 but few men, even in our bracing climate, whom 
 fifty miles riding would not {hake to pieces, and 
 torture almoft to death. No woman would think 
 of it. But when to that is fuperadded, hrfl the 
 compuMio.i — then the forry and at bed painful 
 equipage of the horles — the tender perlons, unac- 
 cu(toiri;d to riding, of the wcmen--the fmoihcc- 
 
.244 REFLECTIONS ON THE, &c. 
 
 ing heal of the fack-— and above all ihe horrid cli- 
 mate, burning, with an almoft vertical heat (vertical 
 .it lead compared with our oblique iun)-— it will be 
 allowed to be a wonder, almoih approaching to a 
 miracle, that they furvived one half of their jour- 
 ney. The wonder- woi king hand of Omnipotence 
 
 ne could bring them through it ; and when I 
 
 . *d in the evening whether they v. r ere dying or 
 
 dead, and was toid that they were not only alive 
 
 in perfeft health, I could not help repeating 
 
 that mod beauttful expreflion put into the mouth 
 
 of Maiia by the inimitable Sterne, " God tempers 
 
 wind to the fide of the fhorn lamb." 
 
 This affair tended to prejudice me ftronglv again ft 
 
 Tartar guide, and I was for iome time that I 
 
 could not look upon him without horror: but at 
 
 my refentment abated; and realbn, resuming 
 
 r leal of c< rifiooj^told me, that though it 
 
 i a crime and a g; icvoWone, he was riot io re- 
 ble for it as thofe who, knowing better, au- 
 
 xiied it by their concurrence, gave it the fap.&ion 
 of law, and made it familiarly practiced; he only 
 did that which he had been even from his mothers 
 bread indru£ted to do, and fhouid therefore not be 
 
 ged by thole rules which a Briton would lay 
 down for the government of luch cales. 
 
 A Briton ! — Hold ! Have I not now been utter- 
 ing a mod levere fa lire upon the BritJfh nation ? 
 Yes! imputing to men a virtue which they want, 
 is the woi ft kind of fatire — I meant it not at the 
 
 re, but will not retract what 1 have written — 
 Britons deferve the lafli of lathe ! They deserve a 
 v.orfc lafn : for the traffic in human bodies Mill 
 Hands a bloody brand of infamy on her great na- 
 tional councils* Their biother's blood! the blood 
 of millions of murdered Africans, like that of 
 Abel, cries to Heaven sgainii them, and will not, 
 1 fear, cry in vain. 
 
EXTRAVAGANT CONDUCT, &c. 245 
 
 Great God ! — What a horrible thought I — what 
 an indelible (tigma f that a legifl.uor thai',, in the 
 cold blood of commerce, make a calculation of the 
 probable profit upon human lives — put commercul 
 expediency in the balance againd murder — arid 
 make convenience the excufe for crime! — Why, 
 t he robber may do fo ! — But fhall Britons, generous 
 Britons, who boadful claim precedence of the 
 world in freedom, humanity, and juftice — fhall 
 they look on and lee inferior nations fpuming from 
 them with horror the debaiing traffic; and itirnu- 
 lated by avarice, or milled by wicked policy, retain 
 the blot that other dales have wiped away, and 
 live at-once the curfe of one part, and the fcorn of 
 the red of mankind ? — Forbid it mercy ! Forbid 
 it Heaven ! — And oh ! may that virtuous man, 
 who; difdaining the malignant taunts of the ba;e 
 and interefied. bol.ri.Iy fteps forth tha advocate or 
 man and of his count^ ar.d feflion after feflion 
 iprings from the couch of repose which opulence 
 prelents him, to break the fetters and the Icourges 
 which improbity and avarice have forged for our 
 fellow creatures — may he fucceed and bear down 
 a.l h;s oppofers ! aud may the juftice of his coun- 
 try make his triumph and his glory as certain and 
 complete here, as the juftice of tha: Being, under 
 whole direction he atti, wHl uoubtlels make them 
 hereafter ! 
 
 LET fER XL, 
 
 E 
 
 ROM the confident ions I have, 
 pretty fully mentioned, my mind was by no m ans 
 ai. eaie. The inceffant travelling for fo many days, 
 
 at the rate of icvev^-n e mile* a d. t y } to be coa- 
 
 X 2 
 
2+6 EXTRAVAGANT CONDUCT 
 
 tinued I knew not how long n increafed my anx- 
 iety: and the appreheniions of accident, interrup- 
 tion, and above all ficknefs, intercepting me on my 
 way, haunted my imagination with all its tenors. 
 I was befides approaching faft to that region where 
 the winds (hike all living things that draw them in. 
 ihftantly dead : and conceiving that the more ex- 
 peditious I was in getting over the journey, the 
 greater chance I had of elcaping thole mifchiefs; I 
 pushed heartily forward, and urged the Tartar till 
 he at la ft exprefTed his aflonifhment and approba- 
 tion ; paid me the compliment to fay, that I was 
 almofr. equal to himfelf for enduring fatigue ; and 
 concluded with a very fagacious lurmile, that in all 
 probability I had been my lei f a carrier of difpatches 
 rig the Frank governments. 
 One day after we had rode about four miles from 
 a caravanlera, at which we had changed our cattle, 
 I found that a moil execrrole bad horie had fallen 
 to my lot : he was ftifl, feeble, and foundered j in 
 COhfcquence of which he Humbled very much, and 
 1 every minute expe&ed that he would fall and roll 
 sr me. I therefore propoted to the guide to ex- 
 in'ee with me: a favour he had hitherto never 
 lefufed, and for which. 1 was the more anxious, as 
 the beaLt. he iode was of the very bed kind. To 
 tr.y utter afronithment he peremptorily refufed ; and 
 a: this had been a day of unufual taciturn ty on his 
 part, 1 attributed his refufal to peevifhnels and ill 
 per, and was refolvcd not to let the matter reft 
 e. I therefore de fired the interpreter to in- 
 j him, that as he had at Aleppo agreed to 
 inge horfes with rne as often as 1 pleated, I 
 . .. conlider our agreement infringed upon if he 
 not comply, and would write to the Cpnfu] 
 
 As foon as this was conveyed to him, he fesmed 
 ftrongly agitated by anger ; vet endeavoured to c 
 . his emotions under bffe&ed contempt and der'.- 
 
OF THE TARTAR. 247 
 
 fion, which 'produced from him one of the moft 
 fingular grins that ever yet marred the human phy- 
 fiognomy. At length he bio';e forth: 
 
 " You will write to Aleppo, will you? Foolifh 
 Frank ! they will not believe you I 3y Mahomet, 
 it would be well done to hear the complaint of a 
 wandering Frank, againft Haflan Artaz---HaITan the 
 faithful and the juft, who for ten years and more 
 has been the meffenger of an emperor, and the 
 friend and confidant of cadis, bafhaws-, and vice- 
 roys, and never yet was called fo much as liar f 
 Who, think you, poor mifguided one ! who, think 
 you, would belive that I broke my promife ?' r 
 
 " Why do you not then," faid I, interrupting 
 him, " why do you not perform it by changing 
 horfes, when you are convinced in your conference 
 (if ynu have anv) that it was part of your agree- 
 ment ?"—-•' Once for all I tell you,'' interrupted 
 he, " I will not give up this horie. There is not," 
 faid he gafconadingly, u there is not a Muffulman 
 that ever wore a beard, not to talk of a wretched 
 Frank, that fliould get this hoi fe from under me ; 
 I would not yield him to the commander of the 
 faithful this minute, were he in your place : I 
 would not, I tell you Frank— and I have my own 
 reafons for it." 
 
 iS I dare lay you have," returned I ; " love cf 
 your eafe, and fear of your bones." 
 
 At hearing this, he grew quire outrageous---cal- 
 led Mahomet and Alla to witnefs that he did 
 not know what it was to fear any thing—declared 
 that he was convinced that fome infernal Spirit had 
 that day got pofleflion of me---and indeed ieemed 
 well difpofed to go to logger-heads.' At length 
 oblerving that I looked at him with fneenng con- 
 temptuous defiance, he rode up along fide of me— 
 I thought it was to ftrike, -4od prepared to r lc 
 myfeif. I was ho .v ever mi (la ken ; he fna'.caed the 
 reins out of my hand, and caught hold of them 
 
24$ EXTRAVAGANT CONDUCT 
 
 colle&ed clofe at the horfe's jaw ; then fell flogging 
 my horfe and ipurring his own. till he got them 
 both in fall fpeed ; nor did he (lop there, but con- 
 tinued to belabour mine with his whip, and to fpur 
 his own, driving headlong over every impediment 
 that came in our way, till I really thought he had 
 run mad, or defined to kill me. Several times I 
 was on the point of finking him with my whip, 
 in order to knock him off his horfe-.-but as often 
 patience providentially came to my afTi fiance, and 
 whifpered to me to forbear and !ee it out. Mean 
 time I coniidered mvfelf as being in fome danger ; 
 ?nd yet fuch was the power he had over the cattle^ 
 that I found it impolTiblc to (lop him : fo refigning 
 the event to the direction of Providence, I fufteied 
 him without a further effort to proceed ; I calling 
 him every opprobrious name I could think of in 
 lingua Franca, and he grinning, and calling me 
 D-:ivjs. Jihafh, Burhl (i. e. hog, £ts, mule), in 
 rjpid a;.d impetuous vehemence of tone and utter- 
 ance. 
 
 Ke continued this for a length of I dare fay fome 
 miles, over an uncultivated tra£L here and theie in- 
 terjected with channels formed by rills of water in 
 the periodical rains •, thickly fet with low fuiZ'*, 
 ferns, and other dwarf buaies, and broken uo and 
 down into little hills. His horfe carried him clean 
 ever all : and though mine was every minute ftum- 
 blinz and nearly down, yet with a dextetity inex- 
 preiliple, and a vigour altogether amazing, he kept 
 him up by the bndle, and I may lay carried him 
 gallantly cv"r every thing. I was a (ton idled 
 much at all this, and towards me er.d as much 
 fed a: Ched ; which he perceiving, critc out 
 
 ijeqjently and triumphantly, " O, la 1 
 Heii ! Heli ! Frangi !" and a« lad dr* 
 
 s, flopping ihoit, ai.o looking me . in 
 face, exc a med ri lingua Franca, 
 Frangi— Que dice ?" 
 
 
OF THE TARTAR. 249 
 
 For fome time 1 was incapable of making him 
 any anfwer, but continued furveying hiin from head 
 to foot as the molt extraordinary favage I had ever 
 beheld ; while he fhoked his whifkers with great 
 (elf-complacency and compofure, and nodded his 
 head every now and then, as much as to lay, Ay, 
 ay, it is f© I look at me ! am not I a very capital 
 fellow ?---" A capital fellow indeed you are." laid 
 I, <; but I wifh I was well out of your confound- 
 ed clutches." 
 
 We alighted on the brow of a fmall hill, whence 
 was to be leen a full and uninterrupted profpetl cf 
 the country all round. The interpreter coming 
 up, he called to him and defired him to explain to 
 me carefully the meaning of what he was about to 
 fay ; which I will give you as nearly as I can in 
 his own words, as they were tranflued by the 
 linguift : 
 
 <J You fee thofe mountains yonder," faid he, 
 pointing to the call ; M thole are in the province 
 of KurdefiLin, inhabited by a vile race of robbers 
 called Jefides, who pay homage to a God of their 
 own called Jefid (Jefus), and wo: fhip the Devil 
 from Rar. They live by plunder, and often de- 
 fcend from thofe mountains, croft the Tigris which 
 runs between them and us, and plunder and ravage 
 this country in bands of great number and formida- 
 ble ftrenglh, cairying away into {livery all they 
 can catch, and killing all who refill them. This 
 coufttry therefoie, for lome diftbnee round us, is 
 very dangerous to travellers, whole only lafety lies 
 in flight. Nov; it was our misfortune this morning 
 to get a very bad horfe, for which, pleafe Alla 
 (flicking his whifkers), fome one fnall receive the 
 baftinado. Should we meet with a band of thofe 
 Curds, what could we do but fly ? And if you, 
 Frangi, rode this horle, and I that, we could neve* 
 efcape ; lot I doubi you c -id not keep him up 
 fiom falling under me, as I citd under you : I 1-hould 
 
250 EXTRAVAGANT CONDUCT 
 
 therefore come down and be taken — you v/tfulcl 
 loie your guide, and miis your way, and all of us 
 be undone. Berkles," continued he. '• there are 
 many villages here where people live, who, if 
 r/hey only lulpe&ed you were a Frank, would fol- 
 low and Cacrifjce you if they could u> Mahomet, 
 and where of cousle you mult run for it." 
 
 As Toon as the interpreter had explained this to 
 me, " Well,' 5 continued the Tartar, * ; what does 
 he lay now to it ?' : Then turning to me, and toi- 
 fing up his bead — I* Que dice, Frangi ?" 
 
 i; Why, I fay," returned 1, '• that you have fpo- 
 ^ood fenfe and luund reaion > and I am obli- 
 ged to you." 
 
 This, when interpreted fully, operated mod plea- 
 v upon him 5 his fea ures relaxed into a b*oud 
 look of i'atisfattion. and he Hid : — i; I will do every 
 : I can to mike you eafy and contented : and 
 when I am obftinate, don't i -u'l — for be a (fared I 
 have reafon for it ; and above all things avoid laugh- 
 ing in my piefencc. But we fhail reach Molul by 
 and bye, and probably then we may have no more 
 rides." For I expected to get down the river Ti- 
 gris from Moful to Bagdad, and had told him io s 
 and lie encouraged me with the expectation. 
 
 That night we came to a caravanfera which lay at 
 feme di fiance from a village. Here the Tartar, 
 pleafed with himfelf for the conduct of the day, and 
 plea'ed with me for my approbation of it, or- 
 dered a moil admirable iopper : and not only, as 
 was very common with him, rej?£f.ed the bed difh 
 in order to prefent it to me, but alio fel?£led for me 
 the choiceft bits of ihofe upon the table. He then 
 vine, observing thai the fatigue of a gov- 
 ernment meffengef demanded indulgence : and 
 uhr.g a faivo of my ijggefhon on a former cccafion, 
 that the Prophet would not be offended with 
 travellers more than with the lick for taking it as it 
 were medicinally. 
 
OF THE TARTAR. 2$f 
 
 We accordingly had wine, and admirable it was, 
 though by no means equal to that we drank, at the 
 city of Diaibeker. I took little however, and the 
 Tartar was much furprifed at my abftemioufnefs ; 
 -remaiking, that he never iaw a Frank before that 
 was not a downright hog when he got the cup to 
 his lips. My taking it in Small portions, while he 
 thank it as we do table beer, particularly aftonifhed 
 him. Before he lay down on his couch, he gave 
 oicieis for horfes, threatening the people with fevere 
 caftigition if they gave bad ones ; holtiiug up as an 
 example the perfon that gave us the (tumbling horfe 
 th.t day, who he declared fhould be ballinadoed as 
 foon as he returned, it there was a cadi with ill ten 
 leagues of nirn ; and I dare to iay that he kept his 
 word moft reli-ioullv. 
 
 The next morning we hid excellent cattle ; fear 
 produced wonders among them, and ;ve let forward 
 jufl as the fun rofe. Ai we entered the nrft vil- 
 lage. I was fomewhat alarmed by perceiving my 
 gnidq draw up his horde — deliberate — mutter to 
 himielf — and fee in rather unealy while he viewed 
 a crowd that was, up the flreet before us : fome of 
 whom I perceived to be agitated with lome t x'ra- 
 ordinary motions of the body, while one man flood 
 in the middle, roiling his body into a variety of 
 ftrange contortions. — The Tartar, for a minute or 
 two, leemed to be debating within himielf whether 
 he fhould proceed or turn about : at length 
 putting me on his left hand, he let forward at full 
 Ipeed. leaving the crowd on his right, who, feeing 
 the rapidity of our pace, flew en one fide, and let 
 ds, We foon however heard fhouting behind 
 u -., and Gould hear plainly the words, f: Ghiaour ! 
 gi Cucu !" and looking back, perceived feve- 
 ral 'i^gturnen like lavages purfuing us, lifting (tones 
 Qccaliona - ca fling them after us with all their 
 
 t. The Ipeed of our horfes at laft got us out 
 ot both fight and hearing ; and I plainly perceived.. 
 
252 BIGOTRY. 
 
 and was for the fir ft time convinced, that my guide's 
 conduct was directed by found fenfe, fpirit, good 
 faith, and integrity. 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 T 
 
 HE extraordinary occurrence which I 
 mentioned in my lad letter required explanation, 
 and my Tartar friend was not backward in giving 
 it ; for he loved exceedingly to hear himfelf talk, 
 and, on anv fubjccl: within 1 he compafs of his know- 
 ledge, was fhrewd, perfpicuous, aud even naturally 
 eloquent : he had moreover on that occafion afted 
 the part of a fkilful general ; and as I applauded his 
 prudence and addrels, he was extremely kind and 
 communicative, and gave me a full account of that 
 affair, his moiives, his deliberations, and the ur- 
 grncyofthe cafe; and. irr ffeorr, every thing that 
 could elucidate the circumftance, or aggrandize his 
 own importance. It would be a pity to take it out 
 of his own words : I fhali therefore relate 'hem to 
 you. a? I ii3<i them through the medium of our lin- 
 guift, for they made an lmpicflion on my memory 
 i:o : er.fily fc. be eiafed. 
 
 fi You mud know," faid he, ". that there are 
 fprcad over the face of this great and glorious em- 
 pire ? number of dervifes of different kinds— -holy 
 men, who 1 enounce the enjoyments and pleaJures 
 of the world to converfe with Mahomet and wor- 
 ship Alia. Some of thofe are very good men, in- 
 deed faints, and never do any thing had ; preaching 
 and praying, without hurting any thing, even a rat 
 or a fnake ; nav, they would not hurt a Chriftian. 
 There a:e others again, of whom I have heard our 
 baftiaws and ciTendis, and even the Maazcen, declare 
 
BIGOTRY. 253 
 
 i}fit they are forbid by the Koran ; nr.d yet the 
 common people (the lower fort you know have no 
 fenfe) teverence and worth ip them — they are called 
 Santons ; live by themlelvss, fometimes under 
 ground like rabbits, end- fometimes, in the thickets 
 and woods. They go where they pleafe, take the 
 befl feat in any man's houfe, cram themtelve^ with 
 meat and drink, and yet none relift them ; for iome 
 will not, and others dare not. Nay. they often 
 pollute women in thr ck;< n ftret ts — and they never 
 •let their eyes on a Gh'riftiati 01 a Frank, that they 
 will not kill, if poffiWe. For my parr, I think 
 that they ought io be hanged, every one of them 
 that hud a head to he hanged by — or rather flaked 
 —for no punifhmeiu is too great for th^m : but 
 1 dare not lay o in that town — if I aid, I fhould 
 be Atoned to deaih by the rabble. 
 
 " A> oon as i perceived the crowd, and the raf- 
 ctfls dancVng, 1 knew th?t they were (an tons, ?nd 
 was lure thai tnry wo . us in order to extract 
 
 jnpney ftotn us ; in which cal'e they would moft 
 pii bab!y have difcovered you — for they have the 
 e\ ^s of the devil. Nothing tlaen corld lave your 
 life ; the crowd would join mem. and vour brains 
 would have been beat ou; with Clones. I had a 
 mind to turn back and go lound the -own, but that 
 might have canfed fufpicioo, 2nd got us pernr.ps 
 inter ccp'eJ ; lo I determined to pufn by them 
 boldiy, which I did, you can tcftify, like a brave 
 man. You faw enough ydurfelf, to i • nvince you 
 of the danger ycu have escaped, and cf my wildorn 
 and valour ; lei me therefore entreat you to be en- 
 tirely guided by me, and above all things avoid that 
 accuried propentity to laughter.' 1 
 
 Since I firft formed the refolution of writing this 
 account of my journey, I have been at fome pains 
 to dip into the Deft hitlories of that country, and 
 I find that in every in0an.ee my Tartar guide's in- 
 formation was coneft. Thofe fantoiis, as well as 
 
 Y 
 
2J4 BIGOTRY. 
 
 other dalles cf dervifes and fheihs, travel about 
 the country, and levy contributions on ihe inhabi- 
 tants : lome are really what they pretend to be, 
 and ^re as pure and as pious as tne monks of t^e 
 ptimitive Chriitjan church ; but the iantons are 
 monfteis, who ex it only by the barbirous cieduii- 
 ty and more than iava^e ignorance of r he lower 
 order of .he people — though reprobated, and in- 
 i. cxec.a'ed, ly the belter lort of Turks. 
 
 They ai ~'~ f o be crmentated (whtch v ith the 
 M ins . the grcateft ma r k of fanftiiy), and 
 
 under covet of tl.^ madnefs commit every excefs. 
 and enormity, not ms.: ly with impunity, but with 
 applaufe. S.ch is the mc: :.c'ioly ftate of degrada- 
 tion, to which the weight ot ■ erftition's chains 
 bends the mind of man ! It is n> long fince I had 
 a very pleafing difcuiilon of tins extraordinary fub« 
 jeer., with a gentleman of mv acq n^xe, for 
 ofe veracity I have great refr>e&» i perflation 
 and credulity very n.'r.MTil i) led U a cqni ieration. 
 of the Turkifh religion, and I expr^rfe. v iatis- 
 facr.ion, that the word exciefcerees of the Chriflian 
 fchifrcs could not be compated with the. Turkish, 
 faith in their dervifes. He faid, that he agreed it 
 did not go quhe the length of the ianton-: ; but he 
 related to me a conv-M'./.on bew ■ ::n Jutn and a 
 Roman cathoiic, not more than twontly-i ur miles 
 from the ^lightened city of Dublin, v. iiich iur- 
 prjled me much. 
 
 t* I was," .aid he, * { when a youth, very free in 
 cenfuringaJJ religions* and chic-fly Popery ; for, 
 be^ng bred among Roman catholics, I hid the 
 greater oppou^nu. of feeing their ab!uid:;ies, 
 which I treafared up as fc n uch gfrin, without ever 
 taking into account their many virtue-, of vvh: 
 they have tlu.i t .">: . One day I was on a paity 
 
 of pleaiure, at a place ca .6 , aud in pre- 
 
 fence of a poor country iolltiw ridiculed the prieit- 
 hood, attiibuling to them many vices, and particu- 
 
BIGOTRY. • 255 
 
 larly fornication and adultery. The man refilled 
 rrre, and declared it was impoflibie, Then I lup- 
 pofe, (aid 1, if- a pried: 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 beiieve it to be the 
 piieit's. No, laid he, I would not. Then how 
 comes the child ? 1 don't know, replied he — any 
 way but by him. In ihort, he would believe in 
 felf-impregnation, or preternatural viiitation, rather 
 than allow a pried to be capable of fornication." 
 
 < ; But," faid I, « you fuppoled a cafe— if the 
 fellow was fhrewd -enough to lay, no fuch caie 
 could at all happen, he would have put you down ; 
 that was what he meant, though he knew not how 
 to go about expreiling it. / 
 
 The difficulties and hazards of the journey, whicli 
 deemed to thicken upon us as we advanced, made 
 me pant for a fpeedy conclufioti to it ; and the ad- 
 venture of the lad day opened more clearly to my 
 view the dangers we had to encounter, which were 
 ftill likely to increafe as we got to'the eaftward and 
 fouthward, where the ¥ury gf bigotry raged 'with- 
 out remorfe ; where the gre^|^gi^i«(t!ance* f r£sm*the 
 feat of government made the populace morelaw- 
 lefs, and the magiftrate more corrupt "and tyranni- 
 cal ; where the total ieclufion fiom all ye\\ ordered 
 fociety rendered the manners barbarous; where 
 ftrangers were feldom feen, and when feed fleeced 
 and perfecuted ; and where particularly 1 had rea- 
 fon to believe, fcarcely any Englifhm,tn had ever 
 fet his foot ; and above all, where the ve r y winds 
 that blew were charged with deftr*£tion, and car- 
 red ir.ftant death upon their wings. 1 therefore 
 earneftly longed to reach Moful, where the proba- 
 bility was, I (hould get at leatl the more comforta- 
 ble and commodious conveyance of water carr^e 
 and where I might refrefh myieif completely, aiter 
 the fatigues of io many days journey ; and, if' th^rc 
 
556 BIGOTRY. 
 
 wns occafion, claim a guard and protection, having 
 along with me a letter to the bafhaw, which L 
 might withhold or deliver, juft as heft fuited my 
 inclination or convenience. 
 
 I could not help viewing with a fad and melan- 
 choly eye my prefent (late ; wandering, I may fay 
 alone, unaccommodated and wretched, through an 
 inhofpitab'e region, and more inholpitable people ; 
 where danger belet me in a thoufand forms, and , 
 every ftep I took, 1 took in hazard of my life; and 
 comparing it with thole fcenes of opulence and 
 comfort which I had once experienced, wheie every 
 lawful w'!h met with its accomplishment ; where 
 every necellity was fupplied, and every difficuhy- 
 obviated ; where tender love and attachment antici- 
 pated every.delire ; and loothed every care : where 
 tie mutual endearments and reciprocal accommoda- 
 tions of tender relatives, wife, children, faithful 
 friends, and kindlv intimates gave a zeft to life, 
 made me feel that my exigence was of interefl to- 
 others as well as to myklf. and communica^ed a 
 conicipus importance which the ilolatecl, iohtary, 
 felfifh man can never fee! : I co'jld not help lot-k- 
 ing back with gi ief and mortification, to think that 
 I once poffVifed thofe bieiliags, ana fnouid perhaps 
 poileis them no more; but, on the contraty, might 
 peiilh unknown, unheeded, and unl.m.nted, in 
 an unknown corner of the- wilds of an unknown 
 hoftile country, without one friend to iolace or to 
 cher me, or tell to thofe who loved -or took ihare . 
 in my concern?, the place where I lay, or the par- 
 ticulars of my fate. 
 
 Nor in )his difmal train of reflections was Aleppo 
 forgotten. It made the great connecting link be- 
 tween my former happineis and picient mifery ; it ■ 
 was, as it were, the d:>or through which I palled 
 when I took my lall farewell of comfort : when it 
 c led and fhut me out, the proipect was indeed 
 bloomy; nor did 1 after foci one happy lenlatu 
 
BIGOTRY. 2$7 
 
 milefs the convulfive tranfports of a laugh, and the 
 boifterous fleeting mirth artfing from the fingulari- 
 ties of my guide, which, as the ("urge raifed by the 
 tempeft above its proper height lifts up the fhat- 
 tered bark onlv to call; it on the beach and leave it 
 fhip-wrecked, elevated my fpirits for the moment 
 beyond their proper pitch, to retire quickly, and 
 leave them in the horrors of ten times deeper 
 melancholy. 
 
 Perceiving how much cafl: down I was, my 
 friendly Tartar began to rally me : " Jimrnel," faid 
 he, ' ; the fantons have frightened you : — but don't 
 be afraid — Hassan Artaz is no boy : he can bring 
 you through greater difficulties than thole, fhould 
 they befall us." 
 
 t% But how comes it," faid I, " Haffan, that you, 
 who have lo much power at the caravanieras, have 
 not povvvir to refill thoie ralcally fantons, or the 
 mobs of a village ?" 
 
 ;; Why, as to the mob," faid he, " if I was by 
 myfelf, or had only a true Believer with me, I 
 would m^ke them fly before me like the duft be- 
 fore the wind. As to the lantons, no one can re- 
 fift them : the Great, who hate them, are obliged 
 to bow them re (p eft : and the bafhaw of Aleppo, 
 nay the Commander of the Faithful himlelf, could 
 not lave you, if one of them called on the mob to 
 ftone you, or tear you to pieces. However, be of 
 good cheer; for, plea r e Alla, I will deliver you 
 fafe and found to the Coja at Bagdad : befides, we 
 fhall very foon be at Moiul from whence we wiii 
 go down by water, which will be very plealant : 
 and the chief danger then will be in fair fighting, 
 which is better than being cut off by fantons. — 
 Should there be occafion," laid he, locking inoft 
 ferocioufly anu brandifhing his whip — :J iliould we 
 be attacked by Cuvqs or Robbers, you fhall lee — 
 vou fhall lee, Jimmel — Oh ! holy Prophet, how 
 Til fight!" 
 
 Y 2 
 
2$S ARRIVAL AT MOSU L. 
 
 LETTER XL1I. 
 
 I 
 
 T was early in the evening when the 
 pointed turrets of the city of Molui opened on 
 our view, and communicated no very unplealnnt 
 fenfations to my heart. I found myielf on Scrip- 
 ture ground; and could not help feeling fome por- 
 tion of the pride of the traveller, when I reflected; 
 that I was now within fight of Nineveh, renowned 
 in Holy Writ.-— The city is fea'.ed in a very barren 
 fandy plain, on the batiks of the river Tigris, em- 
 bell ifhed with the united gifts of Pomona, Ceres, 
 and Flora. The external m view of the town is 
 much in its favour, being encompafTed with {lately 
 walls of foi'td ftone, over which the fterples or 
 rr.i narets of other lofty buildings are (een with im- 
 cieaied effect. Here I fit ft: law a large caravan en- 
 camped, halting on its march from the Gulph of 
 P^jfia to Armenia ; and it certainly made a m 
 noble ?ppeaiance, filling the eye with a multitude 
 of grand cbje&s, all uniting to foim one magnifi- 
 cent whole. 
 
 But though the omfide be io beautiful, the infide 
 is moft detcftable : the heat is 10 intenle, that in 
 the middle of the dav there is no (lining out ; and 
 the ua!h of ti e houfes are io heated 
 by the ddv's fun, js to produce a diiagreeabl p heat 
 to rhe body at a foot or even a yard d. (tai.ee from 
 
 m. How. -ver. i entered it with i pints, becauie 
 I coi fi i^ied it as th latt it ge of the word part of 
 zrv pi igt image. B-rt, alaf ! L was dnappom'ed in 
 my exptftation ; for the Tigr s was dried ui hv I 
 hi t : he rvca . 1 unutuaUy l<>n 1 hi ; 
 
 ana I was obliged to take the matter with a \ .. 
 
ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 259 
 
 #mig, and accommodate my mind to a journey on 
 horfeback, which, though not io long as that I had 
 already made, was likely to be eq/.i^lly dangerous, 
 and which therefore demanded a full exertion of 
 fortitude and resolution.— There are a t:\ouiand la- 
 tent energies in every man, which only want the 
 powerful voice of necefli:y to call them out : and 
 now drawn to the top of my bent, 1 prepared my 
 mind to fet oat in the morning, with as much cheer- 
 fulnets as if the hopes of water carriage to Baodad 
 had never once occured to my mind- 
 It was ftiif the hot fealon of the year, and we 
 were to travel through that country, ov-r which 
 the horrid wind I have before n*e flip one d i weeps 
 its con'urning blafls : it is called by the Turks fa- 
 miel, is mentioned by holy Job under the name of 
 the Eafl Wind, and extends as ravages aii the way 
 from the extreme end of the Gulph or Can; 
 up to Moful ; it carries along with it fleaks of lire, 
 like threads of (ilk ; inilaniiy (hikes dead thefe 
 that breathe it, ard eon-fumes t ; :em inwardly to 
 alhes ; the flrlh loon becoming black as a coa', and 
 dropping off from t he bones. Philotop ie.is c< .u- 
 der it as a kind of electric fire, proceeding from 
 the iulphureous or nitrous exhalations which are 
 kindled by the agitation of the winds.. The only 
 pollible means of efcape from its fatal efL.cts, is to 
 fall flu on the ground, and theieby prevent the 
 drawing it in: to do this, however, it is necefJary 
 fiift to tee it, which is not always practicable.. 
 
 B.i' be fides this, the ordinary heat or the climate 
 is extremely dangerous to the blood and lungs, a;;d; 
 even to the (km, which it bh iters and peels away 
 from the fl :fh, aflc&ing the eyes io much that tra- 
 vellers are obliged to >wear a transparent covering 
 over them to k'-ep the heai orf. 
 
 That night, H,ifni laid, tua, as we muft proceed 
 to Bagdad on horeoack, he wo. Id ltay the nexr at 
 Ivloiui to leiieiii u& j which i objected to ; he then 
 
a6o ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 
 
 fpoke of the fucceeding part of the journey as a 
 thing of nothing: we had already come near nine 
 hundred miles, and had not above five to go : be- 
 sides, as the weather was warmer, we would navel 
 more in the night, and lie-by in the day-time, in 
 places with which he was well acquainted. 
 
 In fhort, the poor fellow ieemed to take an in- 
 terefl in my fafety, and to wifii to alleviate the 
 pains of my mind ; and he always concluded with 
 a remonfliance againft laughing, which from fre- 
 quently hearing I now underfcood even in his own 
 language. — w .Don't laugh, Jimmel, don't laugh," 
 he would lay with great iolemnity. — By the bye, I 
 oblerved, that when he was well dilpoled to me he 
 always called me Jimmel (a name which I prcf-une 
 he conftru&ed, with my fervant's a iTi fiance, from 
 the lelemblance of found between Campbel and 
 Camel, Jimmel being the Turkifh for that animal) ; 
 and when angry, he called me Frangi, with all its 
 gradations of Tuikifh abufe, Dumus, Cucu, &c. 
 
 That evening, as we lat in the caravantera, a 
 man entered and fpoke to HafTan, who feemed to 
 pay great attention to what he was laying. ---He 
 was a well made man---below the middle fize— and 
 had that kind of countenance which befpeaks 
 fhiewdnefs, ingenuity, and mirth. At length he 
 retired ; and foon after H.dfan bade us rite and 
 follow him : he went into a fort of public room, 
 where a number of people were collected, fitting 
 as is the cuftom in coffee-houles on low flools. 
 H.ffan pointed to me to fit down, which I did : 
 then placing the Interpreter near us, he lat himielf : 
 and Itraight I perceived the little man, who had 
 juft been ipeaking to him, flep forth from the 
 prowd and begin to pronounce a fort of . prologue, 
 which I neither underflood nor wifhed to ui.utr- 
 fland ; it appeared from his cadences to be metrical, 
 and ieemed, by the little impreflion it made on his 
 auditors, to have nothing particular to recommend 
 
ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 261 
 
 it* Ac length, however, he paufed, and. hem- 
 ming feveral times to clear his pipes, begin again 
 to hold forth. •' He is going to tell a (lory," laid 
 the Interpreter, The attention of all was fixed 
 upon him, and he proceeded with a modulation of 
 tones, a variety of a£tion, and an energy of ex- 
 predion, that I think. I have never heard or feen 
 excelled : his a£tion indeed was fingularly admira- 
 ble ; and I Could perceive that he was occasionally 
 fpeaking in the tones of a man and a woman : in 
 which latter character he gave a picture of whining 
 ludicrous diltrels,. that moved the rifible mufcles 
 of all the company. I looked at HalTan. and he 
 was grinning as merrily as could any monkey or 
 Frank in Afia. The Linguift occ*liouaily inter- 
 preted what the (lory-teller was laying •, and I iocn 
 began to fufpett that it was a ftofy I had more than 
 once read in the Arabian Nights, though altered, 
 and in fome meaiure dramatized by the Ipeaker. I 
 looked leveral times archly at HaiTm, and he re- 
 turned my glance, as much as 10 lay, You lee I 
 don't laugh at all this. At length, however, the 
 orator came to a part where he was to mimic a poor 
 little hunchback (for I now discovered rt to be the 
 ftory of little Hunch-back) choking with a bone 1 
 he threw up his back ; lqueezed till all the blood 
 in his body feemed colle&ed in his face, his 
 eyes rolled in their fockets, his knees knocked,, 
 he twilled and folded his body, putting his 
 fore- finger, and thumb into his throat, and pull- 
 ing with all his might, as if to pull (omething 
 out : at length he grew weaker, ftretched his 
 arms down, and his lingers back, like thoie of a 
 perfon (tranggl: ng— -kicked, fell, quivered, and 
 died. It is impoflihle for any delcription to do 
 juftice to the perfection of his acting ; and what 
 rendered it the more extraordinary was, that though 
 it was a fcene of death, and well acted death, lie 
 taued to render it l'o ludicrous in ctrcumltances,. 
 
&fo ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 
 
 zs to fufpend the audience between a laugh £nd 
 crv. They did not remain long fo ; for he ludden- 
 bounifed up, and began the mofl doleful lamen- 
 tation of a woman, and exhibited fuch a fcene of 
 burleiq'ie diitreis as 1 never witneifed. All burft 
 out in torrents of laughter, HaiTan as well as the 
 reft---! alone remained purpoiely lerious ; and the 
 orator, according to cuftora, broke off in the mid- 
 dle of an interesting fcene. 
 
 When we returned to the caravan fera, I rallied 
 the Tartar on the fcore of his laughter : he growled, 
 and faid, " who could avoid it ? Whv did not you 
 lau^h as you were wont ?'"' — " Becaufe," faid I, 
 *'' he did not aft as comically as you." — M No," 
 returned he, '* but becaufe Franks and monkies on- 
 ly laugh for rr.ifchief. and where they ought not* 
 No, Jimmel, you will never fee me laugh at mif- 
 chief." — ** What," faid I, M not at a poor man's 
 being choked to death !" — " Nay," faid he, ** I 
 feldom laugh, Yet I could not avoid it then." That 
 very hour, however, a puppet-fnow was exhibited 
 in the lame room, and my grave guide laughed till 
 the tears ran down his cheeks, and his voice funk 
 into a whining treble. Kara ghufe was certainly 
 extravagantly comical, though filthy ; and frighten- 
 ed a c*di with a whole troop of Janiffaries, by letting 
 fly at them a (hot or two — a parte peji 
 
 The next day we fet out well mounted, and pufh- 
 cd on with renovated lpirits towards Bagdad. -- 
 Ha {fan could no more have the affurance to cenfure 
 laughing and, as I was little difpoted to do it in time 
 of danger, we were likely to agree well. In fhort, 
 we began to like one another's company ; and if I 
 brought him to be a greater laugher than he ufed to 
 be, he gave himfelf the credit of having made me 
 much more ferious than I had been before — I pro- 
 fited by his inftrucVons. 
 
 It would be an effort as idle and fruitlefs on my 
 part, as unentenaining and uninterefting on you 
 
ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 263 
 
 to attempt to give you a regular detail of our pro- 
 gress from Moful to Bagdad ; the lame general cau- 
 tions were obierved, with the fame occasional re- 
 laxations. K..ir.'i iiiil continued to treat me with 
 a repetition of h'.mfeit and his horfe, his own feats 
 and hi&horfe's feats ; to be filen! when ill-tempered, 
 and Loquacious when gay j to flog the attendants at 
 the. carr.vanieras ; order, the belt horfes, and eat the 
 be ft; v.cruals, and to give me the bed of both ; and 
 finally we had our fallings out and fallings in again : 
 but I had not the mortification ot ieeing any more 
 women lied in facks on horfe's backs, and excoria- 
 ted with a ride of fifty miles a day. 
 
 As we rode along we overtook feveral times 
 ftraggling oallenders, a kind of Mahomedan monks, 
 profefs poverty and great fanctity ; they were 
 d re fled all in rags, covered with filth, carried a 
 gourd, by way of boitle, for w t:r — I prefume 
 Comet m.s for wine too — and bore in their bands a 
 long >ole decorated with rags, and pieces of cloth. 
 or v nous colours. T^ey are luppoted by the vul- 
 gar to have (upernatural powers : but Haflan, who 
 Jeemed to have caught ail his ideas from his betters, 
 cxpjefled no fort oi won of them ; \\?falam'd 
 
 to them and gave the.:: none-y, however. It was 
 extraordinaiy enough, tint they were all in one fie- 
 ry — all were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca — or, 
 as they cali it, Hadje. 
 
 As loon as ever v/e got oat of their figV.: and 
 hearing, HafTan fhook his head, and repeated 
 w Hadje, Harlje ! :? feveral times doubling!-/, and 
 grinned, as he v as accuftomed to do when he was 
 diipieaied, without being able to manifc*'. 
 " Hadje !" he would cry, '■ Hadje, ~H 
 afked him what he meant ;v.nd h( laid, that thefe 
 fellows were no moie going fo Mecca than I was. 
 (l I have a thoufand and a.tho wind time 5 " (aid 
 u met calenders on the road, and always found 
 them facing towards Mecca. If 1 am going fouth- 
 
264 ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 
 
 ■ward, I always overtake them ; if northward, I 
 meet them ; and all the time they are going where- 
 ever their bufinels carries them. I overtook," con- 
 tinued he, " pne of them one day, and I gave him 
 alms and pafled him by ; he was coming he faid, 
 after me, towards Mecca : but I halted on purpole 
 for a day, and he never pafled ; and a merchant 
 arriving at the fame caravaniera informed ire, he 
 had met the very fame fellow four leagues farther 
 noithwaid ; who had aniwered him with the fame 
 (lory, and ftill had his face turned towards the 
 fouih." 
 
 Fifty years ago, ro man in Turkey would have 
 dared to hold his language ; hut every clay's tx- 
 pc 'er.ee evinces that the light of reafon l-jreaus its 
 rays f.. it through the worlu — even through Turkey ; 
 2r:<~i ft.;;, fh.es a well founded hope, that in another 
 half century even rr.or»4clfh impoftoi (I mean real 
 im,''it<jt.) whether they he Mahomedari mo. ks, 
 01 GhiiO an ri ! be chafed fron fo< rty, 
 
 £i»a forced to apply to honed means lor fnbuiienoe. 
 
 END OF PART II. 
 
A 
 
 JOURNEY TO INDIA, Sec 
 
 PART III. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 My Dear Frederick, 
 
 A, 
 
 -FTER paffing thiough an immenfe tm£t 
 of country, diibnguifhed by nothing that could 
 ferve even as a circumltance to mark and remember 
 our riaily journeys, but which I obferved to grow 
 tnan-fe fitly worle, both in lbil and climate, as wc 
 proceeded Southward, we came in fight of the fa- 
 mous city of Bagdad, on the ieventh day from that 
 on which we left Moiul, and on the eighteenth 
 frem that of my depaiture from Aleppo ; in which 
 eighteen diys we had rode fourteen hundred miles, 
 partly through a route which no European, I have 
 realon to bcheve, ever took before. 
 
 On entering the city, I defired my guide to con- 
 duct me to the houle of a Merchant, to whom I 
 had got letters of credit £nd introduction. He took 
 me accordingly through the windings of feveral 
 ftreets. and at laft flopped at the door of an Arme- 
 nian Merchant, or Coja, where he made me alight, 
 and come in. I was received with great politenefs ; 
 and, on producing my letter, found that he was 
 not the perlon to whom it was chre&sd ; I accord- 
 
 Z 
 
266 ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD. 
 
 ingly made a fuitable apology, and was for retiring 
 to find the houfe of the proper perfon, for which 
 purpoie the Armenian offered me a fervant, when, 
 to my great aftonifhment, my Tartar interfered ; 
 laid that it was to this Merchant he brought all his 
 goods, and that I muft remain where I was ; at the 
 fame time ordering the Armenian, in a peremptory 
 tone, to take charge of me, and ufe me well. It 
 Was in vain that the Armenian endeavoured to ex- 
 plain to him the nature of the bufinefs, aud that I 
 infilled I muft go to the other Merchant — Hassak 
 was peremptory, and declared that I fhould not. 
 It was fo extiemely outre and ridiculous, that I 
 could not be angry ; and the good Armenian unit- 
 ing his voice with that of the Tartar, and entreat- 
 ing me to favour him with my company, I acqui- 
 cfced, and indeed remained in his houle all the 
 time I was at Bagdad. This was proof pofitive, if 
 any other than 1 alieady had was wanting, that he 
 considered me merely as a piece of merchandise, 
 which he was bound (according to the language 
 of Merchants) to deliver in good order and con- 
 dition. 
 
 I had undertaken, before leaving Aleppo, to 
 give the guide, if he afted conformably to my 
 wifhes, and behaved well, twenty pounds over 
 and above the hundred provided by the agreement : 
 1 therefore fentior him, to fettle finally, and part. 
 He had heard that I was a perfon different from 
 what he had iuppoled me to be : but it did not 
 alter his conduft, as might be expe&ed, or make 
 him floop to cringing; he if ill fpoke with the fame 
 honeft, bold familiarity ; and when I gave him the 
 promifed twenty pounds, he never hinted, cringed 
 for, or even looked as if he expected more : but 
 when we came to part, the feelings he diiclofed, 
 and ^hofe I myfelf felt, convinced me, that Man 
 is not naturally that brute which prejudice lias 
 made him : and, when left to his own operations, 
 
ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD. l6y 
 
 tne human heart would be uniformly kindly, affec- 
 tionate, and fympathetic : the poor, rough, uii- 
 polifhed Turk, betrayed the ftrongeft marks of 
 ienfibility, and I myfelf once more felt the uneaft- 
 nels of parting. 
 
 I think this is the proper place to give you my 
 opinion of the Turks, while the recollection of 
 honed Hassan is frelh in my mind ; and I cannot 
 do it better than by quoting the words of an excel- 
 lent French Writer — 
 
 •' The Tuiks (fays M. du Loir) are naturally a 
 good people, which is not to be afcribed to the cli- 
 mate ; for the Greeks born in the fame climate have 
 very different difpofitions, and retain only the bid 
 qualities of their anceflors, v:z. roguery, tre.nchciy, 
 and vanity. The Turks, on the contrary, priding 
 themfeLves on their integrity and modefty, are dit- 
 tirguifhed in general by an open, ingenuous fim- 
 plicity of manners; courtiers only excepted, who, 
 in Turkey, as every where elfe, anr the Haves of 
 ambition and avarice." 
 
 The name of Bagdad has been fo renowned in 
 Eaftern tlory, and is the fcene of fo many of thola 
 bewitching tales which we find trarfhted, or pre- 
 tended to be tranfhted, from the Arabic and Per- 
 llan, that I felt great pleafure in feeing it, and con- 
 ceived myfelf to be at the very fountain-head of 
 marvellous adventure and romance. Fraught with 
 this idea, I was impatient to go forth into the 
 town ; and notwithstanding the weather was ba- 
 yond conception hot, I paraded a number of flreets : 
 but never did I, in the courfe of my life, lee a 
 place fo calculated to belie the opinion one would 
 form of it from the eaftern tales. It appeared to 
 me to be among the moft difagrecable cities of the 
 world, and has no one circumftancc that I could 
 difcover to recommend it : the heat is fo great, 
 that in the Summer-time the inhabitants are forced 
 to keep their markets in the night, and to lie 
 
268 ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD. 
 
 all night in the open air, on the terraces of th»ir 
 hou fes. 
 
 The Armenian with whom I refided, did every 
 thing in his power to render the place agreeable to 
 me ; and 1 fhall always retain a lively fenfe of his 
 gpoclnefs and hofpitality : he was not only generous 
 and polite, but well informed, and pleaffng in con- 
 verfation. I took occafion to exprefs to him the 
 difappointment I felt at finding Bagdad Uj very dif- 
 ferent from what I expected ; and told him that I 
 had, when a youth, learned to think highly of it K 
 or.ather romantically, from reading Ealtern tales. 
 This led to a converlation on the Arabian Nights 
 Eitertainments, a copy of which he had in the 
 Arabic, and produced it : he then fhewed me, with 
 great triumph, a French translation of them, print- 
 ed at Paris, which he had read, and declared that 
 the transition was nothing at all in comparison 
 with the original. I believe he was well qualified- 
 to judge j for he was a periect mr.ir.er of the French 
 
 H^Wc talked of the Eaftern tale of the Glafs Man,, 
 who, in a reverie, inci talcs his (lock till he gets 
 fo rich as, in imagination, to marry the Cadi's 
 ighter, &c. &c. and in kicking his wife, kicks 
 aril his glaffes about, and deftroys the whole of his 
 vifionary foit une. I praifed the humour of it much 
 — * ; Sir," Idid he, " there is nothing in it that nuy 
 not be experienced frequently in actual life : ihofe. 
 waking dreams are the ulual concomitants of opium :. 
 a mm who has accuftomed himieif to the pernici- 
 cious pr.£tice of eating opium, is conftantly lub- 
 j 61 to them.. I have, in the courie of my time,. 
 round a thoufand of thole dreamers holding forth 
 in I iiude of imaginaiy powei. I have feen 
 
 a common por:er become Cadi, and order the bafti- 
 nado. i have ieen a wretched tailor railed by the 
 .effects 01 opium to the office of Aga of the Janil- 
 tarieiSj denoting the Sultan, and ordering the j:v- 
 
ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD. 269 
 
 firing to all about him. I have feen fome indulg- 
 ing in the blandifhmerits of love with Prihceffes, 
 and others wallowing in the wealth of Gclconda. 
 But the mod extraordinary vifionary of this kind 
 I ever met with, was one who imagined himfelf 
 tranfbted to Paradife, co-equal to Mahomet, and 
 fitting by the fide of thar prophet, arguing with 
 him in defence of the uleof wine and opium : he 
 argued mod ingenioufly, lidened in lilence to the 
 fuppofed arguments of his adverfary, - anfwered 
 them, replied, rejoined, and dill argued on — till, 
 growing at la ft angry, he fwore that he was as good 
 a prophet as him, did not care a fig for him, and 
 called him fool and falfe prophet. A Turk, who 
 was prelent, in the fu!nefs of his zeal, laid a flick, 
 very heavily acrofs his thoulders, and put an end 
 to the vilion : and never did 1 fee a wretch fo 
 abjeft, fo forlorn, or lo miferably defponding ; 
 he put his forehead to the ground, which he wet 
 with his tears, crying, Mercy, Mahomet ! mercy, 
 holy Prophet ! mercy, Alia ! — nor could he find 
 relief (luch is the ruin of opium) till he got a frefh 
 fupply of it in his mouth, which foon gave him a 
 temporal y relpite from the horrors of his fi tuition." 
 Unqueftionably, Bagdad was once a great city, 
 of flouiifhing commerce ; but the Sultan Amu- 
 rath the Fourth, when he made himfelf mailer 
 of it, put the richefb Merchants fettled there to 
 death ; and it has ever fince gradually declined. 
 About two days journey from it, lie the ruins of 
 the once famous city ot Babylon. 1 was much dif- 
 poled to go to fee it, and thence drop down the 
 Euphrates to B^flTora : but my Armenian hod told 
 me theie was nothing in it to recompenfe a perfori 
 for half the trouble ; for, of that magnificent city, 
 which was fixty miles in circumference, wh>cii 
 was encompailed with walls eighty-feven feet in 
 thicknefs, and three hundred and fifty in height, 
 nothing was to be feen but the bare foundations of 
 
 Z 2 
 
2JQ ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD. 
 
 fome great edifices. The Tower of Belus, and tha 
 Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, lie with the reft in un- 
 did in guithed ruin. The greateft curiofities, then, 
 were, in the firft place, the ruins of a building 
 faid to be the famed Tower of Babel, which ap- 
 peared te have been half a league in compafs ; and 
 the remains of a vafl bridge over the Euphrates,, 
 where it is half a league broad. 
 
 I was not more anxious to arrive at the city o£ 
 Bagdad than I was to leave it ; and having written; 
 letter?, and put them in a way of being forwarded 
 to Europe, I took leave of my friendly hofpitabie 
 Armenian, and, with a thouland acknowledgments. 
 for his kindneis, let out on horleback to a place oa 
 the Tigris, where I embarked in a boat, in order, 
 to proceed to BaiTora. This river, known fince, 
 the firft records of human exiftence by Gepgra- 
 pliers, is remarkable for its rapid iiy, whence,., 
 Pliny fays, it has the name of Tigris, (in the 
 Median language, a dart) ; and for its extraoidinary 
 courfe, which is in many places under ground,, 
 riles in Armenia, finks into the earth near mount. 
 Taurus, and runs under a mountain — then rifing at 
 the other fide, follows its courle through the lake 
 Theipites — again finks frequently under ground, 
 and continues hid at one time for a {pace of twen- 
 ty-five miles •, where, once more emerging, it 
 glides along with a very rapid ilream. meets the. 
 Euphrates at a place called Korna, paries ihiou^h 
 B«ffora, and falls into the Per flan Gulph.. 
 
 As the boat in which I took my paffage had no> 
 convenience for excluding the violence of the fun,, 
 except an awning, I fuffered extremely from the 
 heal. The River itfelf was grand ; but the banks,, 
 and contiguous country, contained nothing to <»t- 
 iTcGt notice — no obje£l to diver (if w the dreary, de- 
 fer: ed afpect of the [cene — nothing to afioid room. 
 for itfi-ci.on. or give biith to a new idea, 1 do 
 not remember to have ever pafied through luch a 
 
ARRIVAL AT BASSOR A. 27? 
 
 vaft extent of country, fo uniformly dull and unin~ 
 terefting. The only thing that ierved to keep the 
 mind alive, was the apprehenfion of robbers, who, 
 in great numbers, hover over this river, and plun- 
 der paffengers. We had taken care, on leaving 
 Bagdad, to be well provided with fire-arms ; and 
 they did us yeomen's fervice — for we were fre- 
 quently attacked by robbers with a view to plun* 
 der, but found that a {hot or twodifperled and fent 
 them off in confternation* One night, however, 
 in palling a creek, we perceived (everal boats iffu- 
 ing from it, in gieat order, and in a manner that 
 evinced method and premeditation 1 we fiiently 
 prepared for their reception, and were completely 
 ready to meet them warmly, while they thought us 
 quite unprepared, and- unconicious of their ap- 
 proach : they fir ft endeavoured to board us by fur- 
 pnfe : wifhmg rather to frigh'en than to kill them, 
 we began by firing over their heads ; on which they 
 let up the moft horrible fhouts, and rulhed on with 
 a tumultuous rapidity, making, the moft terrible, 
 noife in order to intimidate us : they were by this 
 time quite near us ; we therefore took aim at them,, 
 and let fly, and immediately perceived them in great 
 confufion, fome of the boats lofing their helm, and 
 falling with the dream on the others : at la ft we 
 faw them fheer off, and they gave us no farther 
 trouble. 
 
 LETTER XLIV, 
 
 A, 
 
 FTER eight or ten as difagreeable days 
 as I remember to have fpent in my life, weakened 
 with ineeifarit watching, hsfcrtfTed with bodily fa- 
 tigu4| and melted with the CKceflivs heal of the 
 
27^ ARRIVAL AT BASSORA. 
 
 fun, I arrived at the c ; ty of BafTora, where I was 
 received with the utmoft holpitality by Mr. La- 
 touch e, the Company's Refident from Bombay, 
 who aid every thing poflible for my accomodation, 
 and procured me every inftruftiori* refpc&ing my 
 further progrefs. 
 
 This city, as well as Bagdad, is famous in mar- 
 vellous flory. The country about it is confidered 
 by the natives as the bed fpot in Afis, though the 
 burning winds annoy and frequently deftrov tra- 
 vellers, overwhelming them with mountains of hot 
 fand, driven like waves of the fea, before the tem- 
 peft out of the neighbouring deferts. It carries on 
 a great trade, and is inhabited by vaft numbers of 
 Christians and Jews. The Englifh and Dutch have 
 factories here, ss well for the purpole of commerce, 
 as the t ran fit of difp^tches, by way of Damafcus and 
 Aleppo, tu Europe. The Richeft rnerchandile of 
 India and Europe are brought here in caravans ; 
 and its opulence is greatly incieafed by the caravans 
 of Pilgrims, who pafs through it o n their way to 
 Mecca, and pay great duties, battering for many 
 rich commodities. The holies of this place are ce- 
 lebrared for their fu per for excellence : it is laid 
 that they will run thirty hours without meat or 
 drink — I doubt the fsrftj and {hould be (buy to fee 
 fo inhuman an experiment tried. 
 
 One comfortable cucumflance attending BafTora 
 is, that at night the (beets may be walked with 
 per feci: fafety at all hours. It is fubject to an Arab 
 Prince, who is tributary to the Tuik, and whole 
 revenue is very great, as well from the above-men- 
 tioned caules, as becaule he gives full liberty to all 
 Nations to come and trade to his capital. 
 
 From BalTora I took my paflage in a date-boat 
 going to Muflcat, expecting to get from thence a 
 fpeec'y pa Mage to Bombay : but the boat ipiung a 
 leak at lea, and we were obliged to run into Bui- 
 heer, where I was very hol'ptubly received and 
 
ARRIVAL AT BASSORA. 275 
 
 entertained by Mr. Galley, the Company's Rc- 
 fident. 
 
 There really feemed to be an unufual fatality at- 
 tending me throughout the whole of my journey.. 
 You will recollect,, in the firft inftance, I was pre- 
 vented, by the war with France, from going by 
 the direct route which I fhould otherwise have 
 taken, and obliged to pafs through the Low Coun- 
 tries and Germany — In the next place, at Venice 
 I was dilappointed in obtaining a palTage to Lata- 
 chaea ; and, immediately on the heels of that, loft: 
 my fervarjt at Triefte, by fending him for letters to 
 Venice — Afterwards, when I had gone to Alex- 
 andria with expectation of travelling through Egypt, 
 and viewing that interefting part of the world, I 
 found myfelf prevented by the unhappy circum- 
 ftances of the country — he pkague raging in Alex- 
 andria, and all the roads being blocked up by an 
 incurfion of the Arabs.. Thus mortified and dis- 
 appointed, I turned about, in order to make my 
 way in another direction ; and arriving ac Cyprus, 
 found, to my infinite furprite and regret, that an 
 epidemic difeafe, little fhort of the plague, pre- 
 ra led there, a/id fwept off the inhabitants in great 
 numbers : when, after lurmounting all thole obibt- 
 cles, I arrived at Aleppo, the firft information I 
 got was, that the caravan was gone, and that it 
 would he a long time before another would be 
 ready ; and my departure from Aieppo was attended 
 with ci ream fiances no lefs inaulpicious than my en- 
 trance — At Moiul I experienced another di {ap- 
 pointment, by the river's being dried up, and ren- 
 dered imptacVcable by boats — My paflage from 
 Baffora to Mulkat was impeded by the vefiel fprtng- 
 ing a leak — And now, when at la ft I hoped to get 
 from Bulneer to Bombay, I was flopped by the 
 intelligence that the Gulph was blocked up by 
 French privateers, ipfomuch as no vefiel could hope 
 to eicape.. I was therefore obliged to remain at 
 
2/4 ARRIVAL AT BASSORA. 
 
 Bufheer, till a Company's frigate, commanded by 
 Captain Hardy, and loon expe&ed fhould afford 
 me an opportunity of proceeding to Bombay. 
 Time, however, brought that period about; and 
 I rook my paffage, and arrived fafe at Bombay, 
 where I toon after embarked on board a Portuguelc 
 veueJ. being the only conveyance that offered for 
 me to proceed to Madras : fhe was fir ft bound to 
 Goa, and we anivetl iafely at that ifland, where I 
 was received with great politenels, asd 'reated with 
 the mofr friendly attention, by Mr. Henshaw, 
 the Englifh Refident. 
 
 Goa belongs to the Portuguefe : the Viceroy of 
 the Nation lives there in great pomp. It was once 
 the icene of the molt abominable ciuelties, exer- 
 cifed by that flagkious peop-e^on the natives, under 
 pretended zeal for* Chriftianity — I lad read the 
 Abbe Raynai.'s glowing description of it ; and as 
 I trod the ground, my fume trembled at the 
 thoughts of the maffiCres perpetrated there. 
 
 I was impatient to get from Goa, and yet I look- 
 ed forward to my departure with a lecret uneafi- 
 nels, for which 1 was entirely unable to account — 
 I wifhed to prcceed, and yet fome (ecret foreboding 
 w hifpered to my heart that I was on the verge of 
 Calamity : fo powerful was it, and fo obftinate, 
 that I could neither reafon away its admonitions, 
 nor leftft it's impreflions ; and fome thing inccftant- 
 ly told m?, in as plain language as if a human be- 
 ing fpoke, that I ffcould fuffer a dreadful misfor- 
 tune. As I had all my life been an enemy to 
 fuperftition, 1 felt my fp'.vit infulted, and my 
 Uwderjiand ng degraded, by the involuntary viftoTy 
 jflHP I alioweu to this impreflion — I combated 
 : , with rid'cule, with feif-contempt 
 •— 1 a!i i : vain : in ip-te of me, I became the very 
 flaw of gloomy preientiment ; and iri order to get 
 the fccccddneoms aid of a friend's reafon, as. well 
 as to be prepared, I communicated the fiate of my 
 
ARRIVAL AT BASSORA, ty$ 
 
 feelings to Mr. Hens haw. In vain he endea- 
 voured to cheer me : all he could do was to gjvtl 
 me his counfel ; in confequence of which I actu- 
 ally fettled all my affairs up to that day, made my 
 will, left it with Mr. Henshaw, and, full of 
 dreadful forebodings of (hip wreck, went on board 
 a Portuguefe inow bound to Madras. 
 
 It was now the eighteenth day of May when 
 we failed from Goa. The hemisphere had been 
 for fome days overcaft with clouds : forne light 
 fhowers of rain had fallen ; and you may conclude 
 that it did not tend to raife my fpirits, or fiee me 
 from ominous apprehenfions, to hear that thofe 
 circumftances indicated an approaching gale of 
 wind. I obferved, moreover, that the velfel was 
 much too deep in the water, being greatly over- 
 loaded — that ihe was in many reipecis defective, 
 and, as the feamen lay, ill-found, and in fhort ve- 
 ry unfit to encounter a gale of wind of any vio- 
 lence. I fcorned, however, to yield to thofc 
 united imp re {lions, and determined to pinceed. 
 
 On the nineteenth, the fky was obfcured by 
 immenle fleeces of cloud>, furcharged with infl im- 
 mable matter ; and in the evening, the rain fell in 
 torrents, the firmament darkened apace, iudden 
 night came on, and the horrors of extreme dark- 
 nefs were rendered dill more horrible by the peals 
 of thunder which rent the air, and the fieq<:ent 
 flalhes of lightning, which ferved only to {n^w us 
 the honor of our htuation, and leave us in increa- 
 sed daiknefs ; mean-time the wind became mors 
 violent, blowing on the ihore ; and a heavy fea, 
 railed by its force, united with it to make our date 
 more formidable. 
 
 By day-light on the morning of the twentieth, 
 the gale had encreafed to a furious tempeft ; and 
 the lea, keeping pace with it, ran mountain-high ; 
 and a., it kept invariably to the fame point, the Cap- 
 tain and Officers became ferioufly alarmed, ahcf al- 
 
Zj6 ARRIVAL AT BASSORA. 
 
 moft perfuaded that the South-Weft Monfoon had 
 fet in, which, if it were lo, would tender it abolute- 
 ly impoflible for us to weather the coaft. All that 
 day, however, we kept as clofe as the violence of 
 the weather would allow us to the wind ; but the 
 fea canted her head fo to leeward, that {he made 
 more lee than head-way ; and the rigging was fo 
 iltained with the work that we had lihie hope of 
 keeping off the fliore, unlefs the wind changed, of 
 which there was not now the imalleft probability. 
 During the night there was no intermifHon of the 
 ftorm : many of the (ails flew into ribbons ; Jome 
 cf the rgging was canied awav ; and fuch exertions 
 were made, that, before morning, every flick that 
 could pofiibly be ft ruck was down upon the deck. 
 About (even o'clock on the morning of the twen- 
 ty-firft, I was alarmed by an unlual noile upon 
 the deck, and running up, peiecived that every 
 remaining Jail in the wild, the fore-fail alone ex- 
 cepted, was totally carried away. The fight was hor- 
 rible : and the whole veffel ptefented a ipc£bcle as 
 dreadful :o the feelings as mortifying to human pride. 
 Fear had produced, not only all the helpleffi eis of 
 defpondency, but all the miichievous freaks of in- 
 sanity. In one place flood the Captain, raving, 
 (tamping, and tearing his hair in handfuls from his 
 heid — here fome of the ciew weie caft upon their 
 knees, clapping their hands, and praying, with all 
 the extravagance of houor painted in their faces 
 — there, others were flogging their images with all 
 their might, calling upon them to allay the ftorm. 
 One of our paflVngere, who was Purfer of an En- 
 gl;fh Eaft-Indiaman, had got hold of a cale-bottle 
 of rum, and, with an air of diftradlion and deep 
 defpair imprinted in his face, was {talking about in 
 his fhirti I perceived him to be on the point of 
 ferving it about, in large tumblers, to the few un- 
 dilmayed people ; and well convinced, that, fo far 
 from 'alleviating, it would fharpen the horror* of 
 
ARRIVAL AT BASSORA. 277 
 
 their mind, I went forward, and with much diffi- 
 culty prevented him. 
 
 Having accomplifhed this point, I applied my- 
 felf to the Captain, and endeavoured to bring him 
 back (if pofiible) to his recollection, and to a fenfe 
 of what he owed to his duty as a commander, and 
 to his dignity as a man : I exhorted him to encou- 
 rage the Tailors by his example ; and ftrove to raife 
 his fpirits, by faying that the dorm did not appear 
 to me by any means fo terrible as fome I had before 
 experienced. 
 
 While I was thus employed, we fhipped a fea 
 on the (larboard fide, which I really thought would 
 have lent us down. The vellel feemed to fink 
 beneath its weight, fhivered, and remained motl- 
 onleis — it was a moment or critical fufpenle : fancy 
 made me think I felt her gradually defcending — I 
 gave rnyfelf up as gone, and fummoned all my for- 
 titude to bear approaching death with becoming 
 manhood. 
 
 Juft at this crifis, the water, which ruflied with 
 incredible force through all parts of the veHel, 
 brought out floating, and nearly fuffocate^ ativ 
 Englifh palTenger, who was endeavouring to take 
 a little repoie in a fmall cabin boarded off from the 
 deck : he was a very Trout young man, and full of 
 true fpirit. Finding that the veliel was not, as I 
 had thought, going immediately down, he joined 
 me in exhorting the captain to his duty : we per- 
 fuaded him to throw the guns overboard, as well as 
 a number of trunks and packages with which the 
 veiTel was much encumbered ; and with fome little 
 exertion, we got the pumps fet agoing. 
 
 Here I w:li Hop, knowing the warm fenfibility 
 of my Frederick's mind; and, convinced 
 his fympathctic heart will go hand-in-hand \ 
 his Father's lurTering's, I will not overcharge it 
 with grief by an immediate continuation of the 
 bufinels, but. defer it to anothei Letter, 
 
 A a 
 
278 SHIPWRECK. 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 X IIE name of the Engliih paffenger, 
 tvnom I mentioned to you in my lad Letter as aflTi fl- 
 ing me in getting the Captain and Mariners to do 
 their duty, was Hall. He was a young man of a 
 inofl amiable difpofition, and with it poiTefled all 
 that manly fpirit that gives prefence of mind in 
 exigences of danger. He and I having, with great 
 difficulty, got fome hands to flick ?o the pumps, 
 flood at the wheel, at once to ailiit the men, and 
 prevent them from quitting it ; and, although 
 hopelefs, determined that no effort practicable on 
 our parts fhould be wanting to the piefervation of 
 the veiTel. The wa'er, however, gained upon the 
 pumps, notwithftanding every effort ; and it evi- 
 cvidently appeared that we could not keep her 
 long above water. 
 
 At ten o'clock the wind feemed to increafe, and 
 amounted to a downright hurricane : the iky was 
 fo entiielv ohfeuted with black clouds, and the 
 rain fell lo thick, that obje&s were not difcemable 
 from the wheel to the ihip's head. Soon the 
 pumps were choaked, and could no longer be 
 worked : then diimay feized on all — nothing but 
 unutterable c-etpair, fiient anguifh, and horror, 
 wiought up to frenzy, was to be (een ; not a fin- 
 £le loul was capable of an effort to be uleful— - all 
 teemed more deiuous to cxtinguffti their calamities 
 by embracing death, than willing, by a painful 
 exertion, to avoid it. 
 
 At .'bout eleven o'clock we could plainly diftin- 
 guifli a dreadful roaring naife, reienibling tfc 
 waves rolling again ft rocks ; but the daikneis of 
 
SHIPWRECK. 2^9 
 
 {he dav, and the accompanying rains, prevented 
 us from Teeing any diitance ; and if they were 
 rocks, we might be actually da (lied to pieces on 
 ihcm before we could perceive them. At twelve 
 o'clock, however, the weather cleared up a little, 
 and both the wind and the lea feemed 19 have aba- 
 ted : the very ex pan fum of the proipccl round the 
 (hip was cxhiieratmg ; and as the weather grew 
 , and the lea ieis furious, the ienies of the 
 people returned, and the general flupeftttion be- 
 gan to decreafe. 
 
 The weather continuing to clear up, we in fome 
 \\ind discovered breakers arid large rocks without 
 fide of us ; fo that it appeared we mull have paffed 
 quire clole to them, and were now fairly hemmed 
 in between them and the land. 
 
 In this very critical juncture, the Captain, en- 
 tirely contrary to my opinion, adopted the danger- 
 ous relolutiou of letting go an anchor, to bring her 
 up with her head to the lea: But, though no fea- 
 rinn, my common (tn(e told me that ihe could 
 never ride it out, but mufc direchy go down. The 
 event nearly justified my judgment : lor fhe had 
 icarcely been at anchor before an enormous lea 
 roiling over her, overwhelmed and filled her with 
 Water, arsd every one on board concluded that fhe 
 was certainly linking — On the inflant, a Lalc.v, 
 with a presence of mind worthy an old Eogliih 
 mariner, look an axe, ran forward, and cut the 
 cable. 
 
 On finding jierfelf free, the velTel again floated, 
 and made an effort to light heneif ; but (he was 
 atmofl completely water-logged, and heeled to lar- 
 board io much that the gunnel lay under watef. 
 We then endeavoured to fteer as fail as we could 
 for the land, Which we knew could not be at any 
 gteat dittance, though we were unable to difcover 
 it through the hazy weather : the forelail was loof-^ 
 ci&d; by great cHoiis in bailing, ited a lit- 
 
2§o SHIPWRECK. 
 
 tie, her gunnel was got above water, and we fcud- 
 <!ed as weil as we could before the wind, which 
 ftill blew hard on Chore ; and at about two o'clock 
 the land appeared at a imall diftance a head. 
 
 The love of life countervails all other confidera-* 
 tions in the mind of man. The unceitainty we 
 were under with regard to the {hoie before us, 
 which we had reafon to believe was part of Hyder 
 Alli's dominions, where we fhculd meet with 
 the mo& rigorous treatment, if not ultimate death, 
 was forgotten in the joyful hope of laving life ; 
 and we (cudded towarcs the fhore in all the exult- 
 ing transports of people juft fnatched from the 
 pws of death* 
 
 This gleam of happinefs continued not long : a 
 tremendous lea rolling after us, broke over our 
 ftem, tore every thing before r, (love in the fleer- 
 age, carried away the rudder, fhivered the wheel 
 to piece?, ?.nd toie up the very ring-bolts of the 
 
 ck — conveyed the men who Hood at the wheel 
 
 and fwept them overheard. I was ftand- 
 
 e t me, near the wheel, arc! fortunately 
 
 Id of the trffaicl, which enabled me to refift 
 
 in parr the weight of the wave. I was, however, 
 
 pt off my feet, End dafhed again ft the main- 
 
 e jeik from the tafiarel, which I held 
 
 very tenacioufiy. feemed as if it would have diflo- 
 
 cated my arms : however, it broke the impetus of 
 
 my motion, and in i lity laved me fiom 
 
 being dafhed to pieces againft the mad. 
 
 I floundered about in t lie water at the foot of 
 the malt, till st length I got on my feet, and ieiz- 
 ed a rope, which I held in a (late of great embar- 
 raffment, dubious what I mould do to ex f r:c^:e 
 iriyfelf. At this inftant I perceived that Mr. Hall 
 had gor upon the capitern, and was waving his 
 hai.d to me to follow his example: this 1 wifhed 
 to iio. though it was an enterprise of Ionic rifk and 
 v ; for, if I led the hold 1 had, a finglc 
 
SHIPWRICK. 281 
 
 motion of the veftVi, or a full wave, would cer- 
 tainly carry me overboard. I made a bold puih, 
 however, and fortunately accompliihed it. Having 
 attained this Ration, I could the better furvey the 
 wreck, and faw that the water was nearly brea It- 
 high on the quarter-deck, (for the veffel was dcep- 
 w .rifted); and I perceived the unfortunate Englilh 
 Purler tlandinj where the water was moll {hallow. 
 as if watching with patient expectation its rifirrg, 
 and awating death : 1 called to him to come to us, 
 but lie fhook his head in defpair, and faid, in a. 
 lamentable tone, M It is all over with us! Gob 
 have mercy upon ua!" — then seated himfelf with 
 iceirnng compoiure on a chair which happened «.« 
 be rolling about in the wreck of the deck, and in 
 a few minutes afterwards was waflied into the fea 
 along with it, where he was fpcedily releafed from 
 a ii.ate ten tfroufand times worie than death. 
 
 During this universal wreck of things, the hor- 
 ror i was in could not prevent me (win observing jl 
 very curious c'rrcumftance, which at any other time 
 -would have excued laughter, though now it pro- 
 duced no other emotion than lurpriie — We ha*-'- 
 pened to be in pari Udci* wan mangoes, of which 
 the ifiand of Goa is known to product ll>e Hoeft 
 in the world; lorne of them lay in baG:ets on tie 
 poop ; a little black boy, in the moment of gveateft 
 danger, had got feated by them, devouring them 
 voricioufly, and crying all the tune molt bitterly at 
 the horrors of his liiuaiion ! 
 
 i I c veffel now got completely water-fogged ; 
 and Mr. Hall and I weie employed | n forming 
 conjectural calculations how many minutes file could 
 keep above water, and confoting one another on the 
 unfortunate c.icumilinces under which we 
 lamenting that fate h. d bus brought us acquainted 
 only to make us witneifes of each other's ntifery^ 
 and then to ice one another no more. 
 
 A a 2 
 
2Sl SHIPWRECK. 
 
 As the larboard fide of the vefTel was gradually 
 going down, the deck, and of courle the capftem, 
 became too nearly perpendicular for us to continue 
 on it : we therefore forefaw the neceflity of quit- 
 ting it, and got upon the (larboard fide, holding 
 fad by the gunnel, and allowing our bodies and 
 legs to yield to the !ea as it broke over us. Thus 
 wc continued for fome time : at length the feverity 
 of the labour (o entirely exhaufled our ftrength and 
 fpirits, that our bcfl hope feemed to be a (pecdy 
 conclufion to our painful death ; and we began to 
 have ietious intentions of letting go our hold, and 
 yielding ourfelves up at once to the fury of the 
 waves. 
 
 The veflfel, which all this time drifted with the 
 fea and wind, gradually approximated the fhore, 
 and at length fcruck the ground, which for an in- 
 ilant revived our almofb departed hopes ; but we 
 loon found that it did not in the (mailed: degree 
 better our Situation — Again I began to yield to 
 utter defpair — again I thought of letting go my 
 hold, and linking at once : It is impoflible thought 
 I ever to efcape — why, then, prolong, for a few 
 minutes, a painful existence that mull at laft be 
 given up ? Yet, yet, the all-fubduing love of # life 
 iuggefled, that many things apparently impoflible 
 had come to pafs ; and I laid to mylelf, If life is 
 to be loft, why not lofe it in a glorious (truggle ? 
 Should I lurvive it by accident, life will be rcn- 
 deied doubly fweet to me, and I (till more worthy 
 of it by perievering fortitude. 
 
 While I was employed in this train of reflection, 
 I perceived fome oi the people collecting together, 
 talking, and holding a consultation — It immedi- 
 ately occurred to me, that they were devTing 
 c plan for elcaping from the wieck, and gct- 
 |i;. ve: and. io natural is it for man to cling 
 
 to creature for fupport in difficult or 
 
 genets^ I propoied to Mr. Hall ;o 
 
SHIPWRECK. 283 
 
 join them, and take a fhare in the execution of the 
 plan — obferving to him at the fame time, that I was 
 determined at all events to quit the veflel, and trull 
 to the prote&ion and guidance of a luperintending 
 Providence for the reft. 
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 
 S prodigality of life is, in fome cafes, 
 the excefs of virtue and couiage — lo there are 
 others in which it is vice, meannefs and cowardice. 
 True courage is, according to the circumftances 
 under which it is to operate, as rigidly tenacious 
 and vigilant of life in one cafe, as it is indifferent 
 and regardlefs in another ; and I think it is a very 
 flrange contradiction in the human heart (although 
 it often happens), that a man who has the rnoft un- 
 bounded courage, in feeking death even in the can- 
 non's mouth, fhall yet want the necetTary reiolu- 
 .. tion to make exertions to lave his life in cafes of 
 ordinary danger. The unfortunate Englifh Purfer 
 could not collect courage lufficient to make an effort 
 to lave himielf ; and yet I think it probable that he 
 would have faced a battery of artillery, or expofed 
 himfelf to a piftol-fhot, if occafion required, as 
 foon as any other man. Thus it appears at fir ft 
 view : but may not this feeming incongruity be 
 explained by laying, that perlonal courage and for- 
 titude are different qualities of the mind and body, 
 and depend upon the exercile of entirely different 
 functions? t 
 
 Be that as it may, I argued with myfelf, in the 
 height of my calamitous fituation, upon the fub- 
 jectof fortitude and dejecYiqn, courage and cow- 
 ardice j and, noth with (landing the ierious afpsct of 
 
*S4 ' 
 
 SHIPWRECK, 
 
 affairs, found myfelf liftening to the fuggcftirinsof 
 pride : What a pahiy thing to yield, while ftrength 
 is left: to ftruggle 1 Vanity herfelf had her hint, 
 and whifpered, " Should I clcape by an effort of 
 my own, what a glorious theme of exultation ! " 
 There were, I confefs, tranfitory images in my 
 mind, which, co-operating with the natural at- 
 tachment to ielf-pvsici valicn, made me oerievere, 
 and reiolve to do fo. while one veftige of hope 
 was left for the mind to dwell on. 
 
 Qbferving, as I told you before, the people ccn- 
 fulting together, and refolving to join tiiem, I made 
 an efiort to get to the lee fnrouds, svhere they v. ere 
 ftanding, or rather clingfng ; but before I could 
 sccomplUb it, I loll my hold, fell dou n the hatch- 
 way (the gratings having been carried a v. 
 the long-boat), and was for iome minutes entangled 
 there amongfi a heap of packages, wh vio- 
 
 lent fluctuations of the water had c ' on the 
 
 lee ficie. As the veffel moved wi(h the lea, ami 
 ihe water flowed in, the package: and I weie 
 ed together — fometimes one, (bmetirnes another, 
 lippcrmofl ; fo that I began to be apprehennve 1 
 fhould not be able to extricate myielf : by the 
 mere ft accident, however, I grafped fomething 
 thai lay in my way, made a vigoious fpring, and 
 gained the lee fhrouds. Mr. Hall, who followed 
 me, in ieizing the fhrouds, came thump again ft 
 me with iuch violence that I could Scarcely retain 
 rny hold of the rigging. Compelled by the peti- 
 lou.. fituation in which I flood, I called out to him 
 1 r God's fake to keep off, for that I was renucied 
 quite breathlefs ancl worn out : he ge 
 
 ured to make way for me, ana, in cloir. 
 unfortunately loft ins held, and went down under 
 the fhip's fide. Never, never ihall I forge: my 
 fen far ions at this melancholy .- — 1 would 
 
 have given millions of worlds that I could have 
 recalled the words which made him move ; my 
 
SHIPWRECK. 285 
 
 mind was wound up to the lad pitch of anguifh : I 
 may truly Tay, that this was the mod bitter of all 
 the bitter moments of my life, compared with 
 which the other circumftances of the fhipwreck 
 feemed leffened — for I had infenfibly acquired an 
 unufual efteem and warm attachment for him, and 
 was doubtful whether, after being even the inno- 
 cent occafion of his falling, I ought to take fur- 
 ther pains to preferve my own life. All thole 
 fenfations were palling with the rapidity of light- 
 ning through my thoughts, when, as much to my 
 adonifhtnent as to my joy, I faw him borne by a 
 returning wave, and thrown among the very pack- 
 ages from which I had but jud before, with fuch 
 labour and difficulty, extricated myfelf — In the 
 end he proved equally fortunate, but after a much 
 longer and harder druggie, and after iudaining 
 much more injury. 
 
 I once more changed my (ration, and made my 
 way to the poop, where I found my lei f rather 
 more fheltercd — I earneftly wifhed Mr. II all to 
 be with me, whatever might be my ultimate fate 
 — and beckoned to him to come to me ; but he 
 only anlwered by fhaking his head, in a feeble, 
 defponding manner — flaring at the iame time wild- 
 ly about him : even hfs Ipirit was lubdued ; and 
 defpair, I peiceive<^^ad begun to -take poflefiion 
 of his mind. 
 
 Being a little more at eafe in my new Ration than 
 I had been before, I had more time to deliberate, 
 and more power to judge, 1 recollefted, that, ac- 
 cording to the courfe of time, the day was far gone, 
 and the night quickly approaching : I refle&.'d, 
 that for any enterprize whatloevei, day was much 
 preferable to night ; and above all I conlidered, 
 that the veflcl could not hold long together — I 
 therefuie thought, that the bed mode I could adopt 
 would be, to take to the water With the fird boyant 
 thing 1 could fee ; and, as the wind and water 
 
£60 SHIPWRECK. 
 
 both feemcd to run to the fhore. to take my chance 
 in that way of reaching it. In puriuance of this 
 retaliation, I tore oil rr.y fnirt, having before iV. 
 thrown off the other parts of my drels— I looked 
 at my lleeve buttons, in which was fet the hair of 
 my departed children — and. by an involuntary a& 
 or the imagination, afked mylelf the queftion, 
 '* Shall I be happy enough to meet them where f 
 am now about to go ? — fhail thole dear la(t remains, 
 fcoo, become a prey so the devouring deer* ?" — In 
 that in ft ant, realon, iu'pended by the horrors of 
 the iceiie, gave \\ \-.\ to inftin6fc : and 1 my 
 
 ii.ii t up. and very carefully insult it into a hole 
 between decks, with the w rid hopes that the ilteve 
 buttons might yet elcape untouched. Watching 
 my ope ortunity, I faw a log of wood floai- g near 
 the vefifci, and, waving my hand to Mr. Hall as 
 a I a ft adieu, j imped after it. Here, again, I was 
 Cdinieo to ; r^avated hardfhips — I had icarcely 
 touched the log when a great (ea iratcbed it ficm 
 my bprd ; (till as it came near me, I grafped at it 
 inefleclually, till at ia ft it was completely carried 
 
 iy, but not before it had cut and battered and 
 bruiird me in feyeral places, and in a m .inner mat at 
 any other time I fhould have thought dreadful. 
 
 Death feemed inevitable.^^d all that occured to 
 me now to do. was to acomie it, and get out of 
 its pangs as fpeediiy as poiTfWe ; for, though I knew 
 iiow id fwiin. the tremendous turf rendered lw-m- 
 miug ufeleis, and all hope from it would have been, 
 rediculous. I there foie began to fwallow as much 
 water as poiCrble ; yet, ftill rinng by the the boyant 
 principle of the waves to the furfacc, my former 
 thoughts began to recur ; and whether it was that, 
 or natural iultinct, which furvived the temporary 
 Jroprefiions of de.'pair, I know not — but i endea- 
 voured lo Iwim, which 1 had not done 1< 
 ) again diicovered the log of wood I had lo 
 ing near me, and with ioaje difficulty U ; 
 
SHIPWRECK. 2S7 
 
 Iwtrdlyhad It been an inftant in my hands, when, 
 by the fame unlucky means, I loft it again. I had 
 often heard it laid in Scotland, that if a man will 
 throw himielf flat on his back, in the water, lie 
 quite ftra-igh-t and ft iff, and fuffer himfelf to fink 
 nil the water gets into his eats, he will continue to 
 float fo for ever ; this occured to me now, and I 
 cktei mined to try the experiment ; fo I throw my- 
 felf on my back, in the manner I have deienbed 
 and left myfelf to the difpoial of providence : nor 
 was it long till I found the truth of the laying — for 
 I floated with haidly an effort, and began for the 
 firfttime to conceive fomething like hopes of pre- 
 fervation. 
 
 er lying in this manner, committed to the 
 
 ^|j|tt^non or the tides, I foon law the veffrl — (aw 
 
 jP^^WBwas at a confiderabie diftance behind me. 
 
 Livelieft hope began to play about my heart, and 
 
 joy fluttered with a thouiand gay fancies in my 
 
 mind : 1 began to form the favourable conclufion, 
 
 at that the tide was carrying me rapidly to land from 
 
 •^ the veffel, and that I fhouldioon once more touch 
 
 itrra ji r ma. 
 
 This expectation was a cordial that revived my 
 exhaufted ipirits : I took courage, and left myleif 
 Hill to the fame all diiecVmg Power that had hitherto 
 preferved me, fcarcely doubling thai I ihould 1 
 reach the laad. Nor was I mi flak en ; for, in a 
 fhqrt- time more, without effort or exertion, and 
 witflbut once turning from off my back. I f. • d 
 xnylcif (trike again ft the (andy beach. Ove:j 05 
 as y^ may well luppoie, to the higheft puc,y of 
 tranfp^rt at my providential deliveranc . i made a 
 convulfive fpring, and ran up a little diftance on 
 the ihoie ; but was fo weak and worn down by fa- 
 tigue, and fo unable to clear my flomacb of the 
 water with which it was loaded, that I fold ily 
 g!e-.v deadly fick, and aporehended that I had only 
 exchanged on? death for another ; and in a minute 
 or two fainted away. 
 
2$8 MADE PRISONER. 
 
 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 T 
 
 HAT admirable man and fagacious pe- 
 netrating philofopher, Dr. Franklin, has left us, 
 among innumerable inflruciions for the conduct of 
 human life,, and for remedying many of the griev- 
 ances of it, directions for going a voyage at fea, and 
 has paiticularly enforced the folly ot quitting fhips 
 haftily. and yielding one's feif up to defpair. I 
 am convinced, thai nine tenths of the people who 
 perifh by fhipwreck. perifh from the want ot pre- 
 sence of mind, and (efficient fortitude tobe^Rnenr* 
 out. The unhappy pi. tier, who fat deliberately in 
 a chair, and fullered himfelf, without a ftruggle, to 
 be carried overboard, is an inftance in point. The 
 feeble conduct of the captain and crew is another. 
 Had he, inftead of tearing of his hair, raving, and 
 acting the part of a bedlamite, encouragrd his men, 
 and -..ken vigorous meafures in time; and had they, 
 inftead of whimpering prayers on their knees, and 
 whipping their images, made all clear, and prepared 
 for the word ; in fhort, had they, according to 
 the moral of the old fable, put theii fhoulderto the 
 wheel, inftead of calling on Her cules, it is not im- 
 poflible but the vetTel might have been favedj 
 
 As for my part, the joy of elcaping immediate 
 death made me blind to the other miferiesl^f my 
 fituation. Naked, moneylefs and friendlefs, upon 
 an unknown, and probably inhcipitable coaft, what 
 re? (enable caule had I to rejoice ? Perhaps the re- 
 verfe. But that remains to be feen. 
 
 How long I continued in the fwoon into which 
 I had fallen, it is impoffible for me to tell ; b 
 when I recovered, 1 found myfelf furro'jnded 
 
MADE PRISONER. 2Z9 
 
 a guard of armed foidiers, fepoys, and pikemen. 
 1 k'iew thrm immediately to be the troops of Hy- 
 de r Alli, and almoft willed mvfelf back into 
 the waves again. Looking round, I faw that the 
 people and effects that had been laved from the 
 wreck w:re cojl.e&ed all together along with me. 
 
 In this Rate we remained till it was dark. A 
 Lafcat* belonging to the veffel, perceiving that my 
 nakednefs gave me great concern, tore into two a 
 piece of cloth which he had tied round his waift, 
 and gave me one part of it, which afforded a fhort 
 apron. This fimple aft of a poor, uninformed 
 black man, whom chriftian charity would call an 
 idolator, methought had more of the true and ef- 
 fential fpirit of charity in it, than half the oftenta- 
 tious, parading newfpapef public charities of Lon- 
 don — the (lough of purfe-proud vanity, and un- 
 wieldy bloathed wealth. Of all the a6ls of 
 beneficence, that I ever met with, it (buck me the 
 mod forcibly : it had kindnefs, dif-intereftednefs 
 and delicacy for its bafis ; and I have never fince 
 jhlhttught of it without wiftr'ng that I could meet the 
 man, to reward him for his beneficence with a 
 fubiiflence For 1 ife. The lower order of people 
 of a certain country, 1 know, would think a rmn 
 in fuch circumftances as I was then in, a fitter ob- 
 ject of pleafautry than pity. 
 
 The vaft quantity of fait water I had {"wallowed, 
 Mill made me deadly lick iu the flomach : how- 
 ever, after fome time, I threw it up, and got gteat 
 relief. I had hardly felt the comfortable effects of 
 this, before I was oidered to march : nme of u«, 
 all Lalcars except mvfelf, were conveyed to a vil- 
 lage at a few miles diftaoce on the fca-i'uie, where 
 we were for the night put into a Iqaare place, 
 walled round, open to the inclemency of the vvea- 
 
 * Natives of India, employed foroeumes 2» failors, fome- 
 iirrfs tor inferior orhces in ..he army, luch as pixhing ter.ti,. 
 drawing guusj»&c. 
 
 B b 
 
290 MADE PRISONER. 
 
 thcr above and below, and filled with large logs of 
 wood ; it blew mod violently, and the rain fell in 
 toi rents — while not one fmooth pUnk coald be 
 found on which to ftretch our fatigued and wafted 
 bodies. Thus, naked, fick, exhaufled with tV'g-je 
 and fading, denched with v\e;, and unable to ire 
 down, our mifeiy might bt- (uppofed 10 be inc.* 
 ble of iucreafe. Bu«, alas ! where are the be ll 5 
 which we can fet to human wot ? — Thin!, 1 
 moil dieadful of pains, cccafionea by the drench- 
 ing with (alt wafer, (e zed us : we begged, we 
 entreated, we clamoured tor water ; but the inhu- 
 man wretches, deaf to the groans and (creeches of 
 their fellow-creatures, (for fome grew delirious 
 with the agony of thirft), refufed them even the 
 cheap and miferable indulgence of a drop of 
 Water ! 
 
 The influence of the mind upon the body has 
 been much infiftcd on by philolophers and phy- 
 ficians, and I believe will be admitted by all wife 
 men. I was myfelf in this inftance, a ftriking 
 proof of it ; for, though I had fwallowed and^ 
 thrown up fo much fait water, though my thirft had 
 exceeded any thing I had ever before felt — yet, 
 finding that water was not to be had or expe&ed, 
 I compofed my mind to do without it, diverted 
 my thoughts from it by the contemplation of the 
 many ether eviis which befet me, and paffed the 
 night without that horrible agony experienced by 
 the others. 
 
 IrMced, a night of more exquifite horror cannot 
 be imagined. The thoughts of being a prifoiwr to 
 Hvder Alli, was, of it i el f, fufficient to render 
 me completely u .happy : but my utter want of 
 clothes aimpfl put me befide myfelf j and lying 
 expofed to ihe oprn air, wheie I was glad to (it 
 clofe to the Lafcars to receive a little heat from 
 their bodies, and to hold open my mouth in order 
 t« catch a drop of the defcending rain, was a ft.ale 
 
MADE PRISONER. 29 I 
 
 that might be confidered as the higheft refinement 
 Upon mifery. 
 
 About four o'clock in the morning, a little cold 
 rice was brought us to eat, and water was dug out 
 of a hole near the fpot for us ; but as all things in 
 this life are good or bad merely relatively, this 
 wretched fare was fome refrefhment to u?. I was 
 then removed to the ruins of a toddy-hut,* i'epara- 
 led from the reft, and a guard fet over me. Here 
 1 had full room for reflection, and could " medi- 
 tate e'en to madnefs." The whole of my Situation 
 appeared before me with all its aggravating circum- 
 ftances of lienor ; and to any one who cdpfiders 
 i:, 1 believe it will appear that it was hardly poili- 
 ble to fill the bitter cup of calamity fuller. Oh ] 
 what were my thoughts ! My family bereft of him 
 on whole efforts they were in a great meafure to dc 
 pend for fupport and protection — you, then a little 
 innocent cherub, appeared to my diftracied imagi- 
 nation twining round your mother's neck, and, in 
 infant clamour, callin" YGU!" father— while he. in a 
 dreadful captivity, compared with which even a 
 cruel death* were mercy, lay wafting, naked and 
 forlorn, perifhing with the inclemency of the wea- 
 ther, wanting even food fit for his lupport, and 
 expofed to the Icourge of every pttty tyrant that 
 barbarous power might employ to guard him !— 
 Such wer« my reflections : they were in reafon 
 well founded ; for there was no probability of my 
 Lz:::g ever Fo U£» r odj So my captivity was unlikely 
 to be known to my country, or by my friends. 
 
 In this ftate I was, when, to my utt«r aftonifh- 
 ment, and to my no lefsjoy. the amiable companion 
 ©f my fhipwreck, Mr. Hall, appeared before me. 
 X lcarcely knew how to think his appearance reali- 
 ty, as 1 undcrftood that the Laicars then along With 
 
 * A fmall temporary hut, where toddy [z liquor extra&cd 
 from the cocoa-nut tree) \% Told. 
 
292 MADE PRISONER. 
 
 me weie ail that were faved from the wreck ; and 
 he was, at the time 1 parted from him, fo exhaufc- 
 ed both in body and mind, that I thought he would 
 b? the kit who could efcape. He, however, Hook 
 me by the hand ; arid, fitting down, told me thac 
 he had given me up for loft, and remained with the 
 veffel until the ticie, having ebbed, left her al mo ft 
 Or) — ;hat, immediately on getting 2 (ho re, and be- 
 n.g taken prisoner, he made inquiries about me,- 
 and hea-rd that I had been faved — that, finding 
 
 s, his j- y was fuch as to make him alfcolt forget 
 his own misfortunes — and, exciting ail his entrea- 
 ties not to be fepatated fionJ me, they had been fo- 
 far indulgent to him, and had biought him to me, 
 i we m ght be companions in bondage. He 
 
 ji'd, that out c>f eleven Europeans and fifty- fix- 
 La (cars who were on board, only he and 1 of the 
 foiraer. and fourteen of the latter, were faved from 
 the tl:c reft having been dinwned in fhc 
 
 t. excepting Tome who, overcome with ter- 
 ror, h and anxiety, and exhaulled with fa* 
 tigue, iiad bid a fo; mal adieu to their companions, 
 le; go their hold, and calmly and voluntarily given 
 thernfelves up to the deep. 
 
 1 here took occafnn to remark to him, what I 
 have already laid to you, that thousands lo-e their 
 lives for want of perleveiat.ee, fortitude, and cou- 
 rage to prefcrve them — Had the E-nglifh Purler 
 coiiccled courage enough to hold fa ft till the tide 
 ebbed, he might have been fafe on (hot© as \»% 
 were, as he was fuperior to either of us in bodily 
 ftrttigth. 
 
 '* Ah! my friend!" laid he. Peaking his head. 
 defponcingh— li is he worse where he. is? I doi.bt 
 • i rah is not far preferable to our preient 
 piolpects." 
 
 '* Come, come," faid I, perceiving he was me- 
 hnchcly, though I mylelf laboured under all the 
 horror s he exprtffed — i: come. Let us not think j a.l 
 
SENT UNDER A GUARD, Ac. 293 
 
 will yet be well : I forefee it will; and you muft 
 knovMi I have fomething of the prophet in my 
 nature — rperhaps the fecond fight. 5 ' I then told 
 him my prefentiments on. leaving Goa, which. 
 much allonifhed him-*— dill more when I acquaint- 
 ed him with the formal a£b I had done in confe- 
 quence thereof, by Mr. PIekshaw's advice, and 
 with his privity. 
 
 In fact, our joy at meeting was reciprocally great, 
 and in feme reipect cheered us for the time under 
 all our miferies in hand, and ^the dreary profpect of 
 thofe yet to come. 
 
 Perceiving that he flood as much in need of re 
 lief as I did when the Lafcar relieved me by divid- 
 ing his cloth, I took mine off, tore it in two, and 
 gave him half of it: you may '.veil conceive our 
 mifery from this, if other circumftances were wantf 
 ing, that fuch a thing .as a rag of linen, not worth 
 fix pence, was a very material accommodation to 
 us both. 
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 Y 
 
 OUR letter, occ.ifioned by the account 
 of my (hi pw reck and fubiequent dilafler, gave me, 
 my amiable boy ! as great pleafure as thole diiatlers 
 gave me pain. Your account, too, of John's 
 bur (ling into tears on the reading of it to him, had 
 almo(l a (imiur effect upon myfelf : and I truft in 
 the Almighty dilpoier of events, that that excel- 
 lent turn of mind will be lo fafhioned by the edu- 
 cation I give you, as to make it the lource of 
 boundlels gratification and true great nefs (by which 
 1 mean goodneis) here, and of never-fading feli- 
 city hereafter. You (ay you cannot account for it, 
 
 B b 2 
 
£9-1- SENT UNDER A GUARD 
 
 but you found more happir.efs at my efcape, tharr 
 mifery at my misfortunes. I hail that circumftar.ee 
 as the (Irongeft mark of perfect exceilence of dif- 
 pofition. A great moral philofopher has laid it 
 down as a m3xim, that it is the furer mark of a 
 good heart to lympathifc with joy than with for- 
 row; and this inftar.ee on J .y comes in aid of that 
 opinion of you which my fond hopes have always 
 nourifhed. 
 
 At the fame time I nrufl declare to you, that my 
 plea Pure at elcaping fhip wreck was by no means as 
 great as the agony my mind underwent as the prof- 
 pe& now before me wds poignant. I have already 
 laid, and indeed with truth, that I fhould have 
 with much gretter pleafure embraced death : I, who- 
 had been already fome years in India-, and had op- 
 portunities of hearing, as well from my father as 
 from other ofhceis in the fcivKre, what the dif por- 
 tion of the tyiant in whofe power I hod now fallen 
 wus, knew tco well the horrors of my fituation to 
 feel any thing like hope. The unmet ciful difpofi- 
 tion of Hvder, and all thole in autnority under 
 him, and the ciucl policy of the Eaftern chiefs, 
 making the li-fc of any one, particularly a Britifh 
 prifoner, at tne be ft a precarious tenure, I dni not 
 know the moment when death might be infl&cd 
 upon me with perhaps a thouiand aggtavating cir- 
 cumflances : and at ail events, the affairs which 
 demanded my prefence in India fo very importu- 
 nately as to urge me to ail the fatigues and hard- 
 fhips of a paffage. over land, were, of themlelves, 
 lufheient to make my mind unealy; but tneabjr 
 (late of want and nakedneis in which it (eemed I 
 was likely to remain, llvuck a deep and cbmp hor- 
 ror to mv hc-a:t, and aimoli unman'd me. 
 ' Mi. Hall and I, however, endeavoured with 
 all our might to ftem the headlong torrent of our 
 fate — Melai choly preyed deeply and openly upon 
 him, wrnie 1 concealed mine, and endeavoured to 
 
UP THE COUNTRY. 295 
 
 cheer the finking fpirits of that noble ydfith, who, 
 I perceived was the prey rather of ex'iemc ferft- 
 bility tnan feeblenefs of mmd. All the horrors of 
 fhivering nakednefs, though, to a rnmd dilicate 
 like his, and a perfon reared ir. the lap of luxury, 
 fufficieotlv goading, appeared as nothing when 'cut.-. 
 pared with one lots he had fu framed in the depre- 
 dations with which fhipwreck is conftamly fol- 
 lowed up. In the cruel fufpenie between life and 
 death, which I have : already ' defcribed, previous to 
 my getting on (bore, this amiable young man had 
 fee u red and treafured next his heart, as the infepe.- 
 rabie companion of his fate, a miniature portrait of 
 a young lady ; it hung round his neck, and was, by 
 the unfeeling villains who feized him on hrs land- 
 in or, taken away. This cruel deurivaiion was an 
 inceflant cononve to his mrnd — the copious fource 
 of anguifh to his heart— the hourly theme of 'the 
 mod pathetic, affl cVng exclamations. " H-tri I," 
 he would cry, *« oh 1 had I had but the good for- 
 tune to have gone to the bottom while yet it hung 
 about my neck, I mould have been happy ; but 
 now, feparated from the heavenly original, and 
 bereft of the precious image, what is life ? what 
 would be life were 1 yet lure of it ? What plea- 
 fure, what common content, has the world left for 
 mc ? None — oh! none, none! Never {hall this 
 heart again know comfon ! 
 
 I did every thing 1 could to confole him, and, 
 as far as I could, prevent him from dwelling 0:1 
 thofe gloomy lubjetb. Our converfations were in- 
 teresting and pathetic ; but, alas ! the piciure, at 
 every paufe, chafed away the flight impreifions of 
 the preceding converfe : no i'uffe rings of the bo.dy 
 Could countervail that lois — no confolation mitigate 
 it ; and amidft the hoi ! id reflections which unpa- 
 ralleled calamity impofed upon his mind, the lo.'s 
 of thit one dear relic role paramount to all — and as 
 every thought began, io it ended, with the picture. 
 
296 SENT UNDER A GUARD 
 
 For fome days we lay in this place, expofed ta 
 the weather, without even the {lender comfort of 3 
 little flraw to cover the ground beneath us — our 
 food, boiled lice, ferved very fparingly twice a-day 
 by an old woman, who juft threw a handful or 
 more of it to each upon a very dirty board, which 
 we devoured with thofe fpoons nature gave us. 
 
 At the end of that time, we, and, along with 
 us, the Lafcars, were ordered to proceed into the 
 country, and drove on foot to a ronfiderable d'f- 
 tance, in order to tender up an account of ourfelves 
 to per Ions belonging to government, authorised to 
 take it. It was advanced in the morning when we 
 moved, without receiving any fort of luftenance ; 
 and were marched in that wafting climate eight 
 hours, without breaking our fall ; during which 
 time we were expofed alternately to the icorchiug 
 heat of the fun and heavy torrents of rain, which 
 raifed painful bliilers on our fkin : we had often 
 to (land expofed to the weather, or to lie down, 
 under the preffure of fatigue and we^knefs 1 on the 
 bare ground ; then watt an hour, or more, at the 
 door of fome infolent, unfeeling monfter, until 
 he fimfhed his dinner, or took his afternoon's nap ; 
 and when this was over, drove forward with wan- 
 ton barbarity by the people who attended us. 
 
 You, my Frederick! who only know the 
 mild and merciful dilpofuion of the people of 
 Great Britain, where government, religion, and 
 long habit, have reduced charity and benevolence 
 fo completely to a lyftem that they leem to be in- 
 nate principles of the mind, can have no concep- 
 tion of a people who will not only look upon the 
 word human aQiftions with indifference, but take 
 a lavage delight in the miferiei. of their fellow- 
 creatures, even where no pofiible advantage can 
 be reaped from their inhumanity, and where the 
 only reward they can propole to themlelvesfor their 
 ciuelty is the plcai'urc of contemplating human iuf» 
 ferings. 
 
IP THE COUNTRY. £97 
 
 Such, lorry am I to fay it, is the difpofition of 
 fome parts of the Efcft Indies that I have been in ; 
 and although thofe parts under the dominion of 
 Great Britain owe their emancipation from the 
 moil galling yokes to the Engiifh — and though, 
 lander their aufpiees, they live in a flate of greater 
 happineis than ever they did, and greater freedom 
 even than Britons tiiemfelves — yet fuch is the 
 wicked ingratitude of many of them, fuch 
 the inflexible animofity arifing from a contra- 
 dictory religion, that the death or luffering of an 
 Englifhman, or any misfortune that may befal him, 
 ofien ferves only as matter of fport or amuiement 
 to thern. It would be well if it refled there—- 
 but unfortunately they are worfe again ; for in ge- 
 neral they have the like coldnefs and indifference,, 
 or indeed, to- f peak, more properly, the like avcr- 
 fion, to each others good ; and the fame diabolical 
 principles of felfifhnefs and treachery pervade the 
 greater number in thofe vatl regions, almolt bound- 
 lefs in extent, and 'aim oft matchlefs in fertility. 
 
 Two days after this, we were moved again, and 
 marched up the country by a long and eircuitious 
 route, in which we underwent every hardfhipthat 
 cruelty could inflict, or human fortitude endure— 
 now blillered with the heaf, now drenched with 
 the rain, and now chilled with the night damps 
 — deftitute of any place but the bare earth to reft 0£ 
 lay our h«adao-, with only a fcanty pittance of boil- 
 ed nee for our (upport — often without water to 
 quench our thiiil, and conftantly goaded by thfj 
 guards, who pricked us with their bayonets every 
 now and then, at once to evince their power, en- 
 tertain the fpeStators, and mortify us. We arrived 
 at Hydcinagur, the metropolis of the province 
 of Biddanore — a fort of confidereble itrength, 
 mounting upwards of feventy guns, containing * 
 large ganifon of men, and poflefied of iinnxenia 
 
 WSdltll, 
 
29$ SENT UNDER A GUARU, &c. 
 
 It was about two o'clock in the morning when 
 we arrived at Bicidanore : the day was extremely 
 hot, and we were kept out under the full heat of 
 that broiling fun till hx o'clock in the evening, be- 
 fore we were admitted to an audience of the Je- 
 madar, or governor of the place, without having 
 a mouthful of victuals offered to us after the fati- 
 guing march cf the morning. 
 
 While we flood in this forlorn (late, a vail con- 
 i.~cui i'e of people collected about, and viewe J us with 
 euiioiuy. Looking round through thoie who flood 
 r-careil. I obferved lome men gazing at me with 
 frrong minks of emotion, snd a mixture of wonder 
 ar;d concern pourtraytd in their countenance*. 
 Surpnfed to fee (uch iymptorns of humanity in a 
 Mylorian Indian, I looked at them with more fcru'.i- 
 inizing attention, and thought that their faces 
 were familiar to me. Catching my eye, they locked 
 at me fignificantly, as though they would exprefs 
 lheir regard and refpect for me, it they dared ; and 
 I then began to recoilctt that they were formerly 
 privates in my regiment of cavalry, and were then 
 prisoners at large with Hydkr. 
 
 I was not leis furpiifed that thofe poor fellows 
 fiiould recognile me in my prefent milerable fallen 
 ftate, than affected at the lympathetic feeling they 
 difclofed. I returned their look with a private nod 
 of recognition ; but, feeing that they were afraid 
 to fpeak to me, and Tearing 1 mtgni ii.jur© ii.C^l 
 by difclofmg our acquaintance, I forbore any thing 
 more. The guilty fouls of defpotic governments 
 are perpetually alive to fufpicion : everv look alarms 
 them ; and alarm or lufpicion never fails to be fol- 
 lowed up with prolcripiion or death. 
 
 Men, when in the fuilnefs of power and pride 
 of office, very (eldom give themlelves time to reflect 
 upon the in (lability of human greatneis, and the 
 uncertainty of earthly contingencies. When, in- 
 veiled wilh alU the trappings of authority, 1 com- 
 
COMMITTED TO PRISON. 299 
 
 irianded the regiment to which thofe poor fellows 
 qed. I would have thought that he fpoke 
 wilciiv indeed who would have alledged that it was 
 Boflible I could ever become an object of their pity 
 r I inould ftand n*ked and degraded before 
 fhem, and ihev be afraid to acknowledge me ; bur, 
 thdagh I fh'/uld hive thought Jo then, ft was yet 
 feme comfort 'o me, when that unfortunate event 
 did come to pals, to reflect, that, when in power, 
 1 -Made h-cfi ule of it as to excite emotions in their 
 boloms «>f affe&ion and reipe£h Did the tyrant 
 and overbearing infolent chiefs confider this, and 
 govern themfr.lves by its inftru&ions, they would 
 go into the field with the conloling reflection, that 
 no (»un would be levelled at their head except that 
 of ! ne common enemy— a thing that does not al- 
 ways happen. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 ■ , r. . : ' ■ ~ — ~ ■ -, _ u B 
 
 H 
 
 .AD we been made priloners of war in 
 battle agairifl an enemy, there is no law of nature or 
 nations, no rule of reafon or principle of equity, 
 that could palliate fuch treatment as that which 
 we now received : but, - oft by misfortune 
 and fhip-wreck on their fhoie, we were entitled to 
 folace and protection. The word wretches who 
 hang out falfe beacons on the weflern coafts 
 of England, to alluie (hips to their deftru&ion, 
 would not be cruel without temptation ; and, if 
 they did not expect to gain Tome profit by it, would 
 rather decline knocking their f'llow-creatures in the 
 head : but thofe barbarians, without any profit but 
 V hat a malignant heart derives from the miferies of 
 others, or any pleafure^but what proceeds from their 
 
SCO COMMITTED TO PRISOls. 
 
 pain, exercifed upon us the moft wanton cruelty. 
 Compared with focb treat men, irftar.t death would 
 have I een an act of mercy to us ; and we fhould have 
 had rcaion to b!e!s the hand that inflated it. 
 
 Mortifications of one fott or other — the inceffant 
 tortuiiijg of the mind on the tack of fuipenle — the 
 injuries to the animal fyftern, occafioned by con- 
 ftant expolure to the weather, and '.he want of food 
 — all conipiied to reduce me to the dimenfions and 
 feeblenefs of a fkeleton. I had grown daily weaker 
 and weaker, and was now neai ly exhaufted, and 
 quite faint ; while, on the other hand, my amiable 
 companion in affliction was reduced by a dyfentery, 
 which attacked him foon after our (hipwreck, and 
 which the torments of his mind, the want of medi- 
 cine and comfortable food, and, above all, the alter? 
 Date violent changes from profufe perfpiration in 
 walking to chilling cold at night, had increafed to 
 iuch an alarming degree, that he was obliged to be 
 carried the two laft days journey : — In this Mate, 
 we appeared to each other as two Ipc&res hanging 
 over the brink of the grave : and in truth, perceiv- 
 ing the rapid progrefs he was making to his diflblu- 
 tion, I was affected to a degiee, that, while it really 
 exa.'perated my own worn-down (late, deprived 
 me of all attention to the rapid decline I was fall- 
 ing into, and almoft entirely engrofied my care. In 
 my progiefs through life, I have had occafion to try 
 ieveral men, and have found among them many 
 were every tiling that a good heait could with 
 to find : but this young gentleman had at once fo 
 much fuavity and fpirit — iuch gentlenefs and forti- 
 titude — his luiTerings (thofe of his mind, as well as 
 thole of his body) were fo exqu.iite, and he bote 
 them with Iuch roeeknels, tempered by fuch unin- 
 terrupted good humour, and concealed and managed 
 with lo much delicacy, that I do not tranlgrels the 
 bounds of truth when I fay I never met one who 
 fo entirely in tc relied my feelings, and attached . 
 
COMMITTED TO PRISON. 301 
 
 friendfhip fo unalterably, upon principles of in- 
 flinct.ive imoulfe, as well as reafon. Impelled by 
 the irrefiftible claims he had upon my approbation 
 and efteem, I entered with all the warmth of a 
 bro o his fu Seringa, and can aflert with truth 
 
 that they conflituted the fevereft trials I underwent 
 during my whole imprifonment. 
 
 , tie we Rood in the court, waiting to be 
 brought before the Jerrrsdar. we prefented a fpe&a- 
 cle that would have wrung pity, one wc nk, 
 
 from the heart of a tiger, if a tiger was endued 
 with reflection. At length we were furomoned to 
 appear before him, and brought s prefe-.. 
 
 1 had made up my mind for the oc W> 
 
 mined to deport myielf in a manly, c -3n- 
 
 — l'.id to let no confidera ion what ioever lead 
 me to any thing difgraceful to my re . or 
 
 unworthy mv fituation in life ; and, fi !:ad 
 
 prepared myielf to meet, without fhrink 
 ever misfortunes might yet be in (lore for 
 or wn^cver cruelties the barbarous or 
 
 wicked policy of the Tyrant might t; to 
 
 inflict. 
 
 On entering, we found the Jemadar in f 
 bar.* He was then occupied with the , of 
 
 difpatches, and in traniacY;ng other public h 
 We weie placed directly oppohte to h ere 
 
 we flood for near an hour, during which I 
 never caft his eyes towards us; but when ■*. 
 had concluded the bufineis, in which I : 
 gaged, and deigned to look at us, wc were 1 
 to pioftrate ourfelves before him: tire La fears 
 mediately obeyed the order, and threw » 
 
 On the ground ; but I contented myftif . 
 ing a faiam, in which poor Mr. Hall, \ 
 Oot tire Eaftern manner as I did, follow 
 example. 
 
 * Court. 
 Cc 
 
5*2 COMMITTED TO PRISON. 
 
 As foon as this ceremony was over, the Jemadar 
 (who was no other man than the famous Hyat 
 Sahib that has made fome noile in the hitlory of 
 that war) began to queflion me. He defired to 
 know, who 1 was ? — what my profeffion was ? — 
 what was the caufe and manner of my approaching 
 the country of Hyder Alli ?--To all thofe ques- 
 tions I gave anlwers that feemed to iatisfy him. 
 He then afked me, what news I had brought with 
 me from Europe ? — inquired into the Mate of th« 
 army, and number of recruits difpatched in the 
 fhips of that feafon — was minute and circumflantiai 
 in his queftions refpe&ing the nature and fuccefs of 
 the war in Europe — and examined me clofely, 
 touching the refources of the Eafl India Company. 
 I faw his drift, and was cautious and circumfpe& 
 in my anfwers, and at the fame lime contrived to 
 ipeak with an air of candour that in iome fort latis- 
 fied him. 
 
 Having exhaufled his whole firing of queftions, 
 he turned the difcourfe to another 1 u bj e 61 — no lefs 
 than his great and puiffant Lord and Mailer, Hy- 
 der, of whom he had endeavoured to imprefs me 
 with a great, if not terrible idea — amplifying hi* 
 power, h s wealth, and the extent and opulei.ce of 
 his dominions — and delcribing to me, in the mo ft 
 exaggerated terms, the number of his troops — his 
 military talents — his vaft, ana, according to his 
 Recount, unrivalled genius — his amazing abilities 
 in conquering and governing Nations — and, above 
 all, his many amiable qualities, and iplendid en- 
 tnents of heart, no lels than undei {landing. 
 
 Having thus, with equal zeal and fidelity, en- 
 deavoured tp imprefs me with veneration for his 
 Lord and Mailer,, and for that purpofe attributed 
 to him every perfection that may be iuppofed to be 
 
 -ided among all the Kings and Generals that have 
 lived fincc the birth of Christ, and given each 
 their due, he turned to the Englifh Government, 
 
COMMITTED TO PRISON. 303 
 
 tnd endeavoured to demonflrate to me the folly and 
 inutility of our attempting to reiift his progrefs, 
 which he compared to that of the ies, to a tempeft, 
 to a torrent, to a lion's pace and fury — to every 
 thing that an Extern imagination could fuggeft as 
 a figure proper to exemplify grandeur and irrefifti- 
 ble power. He then vaunted of his Sovereign's 
 iuccefles over the Englifh, fome of which I had 
 not heard of before, and did not believe ; and con- 
 cluded by a {Turing me, that it was Ryder's deter- 
 mination to drive ail Europeans from Indoflan, 
 which he averred he could not fail to do, coniider- 
 ing the weaknels of the one, anci boundleis power 
 of the other. This part of Hyat Sahib's dii- 
 courfe is well worth your remembering, as it will 
 ferve to make a very diverting contrail with his 
 fubfequent conduct. 
 
 After having expended near half an hour in thit 
 manner, he called upon me to come over near him, 
 and caufed me to feat myfelf upon a mat with a 
 pillow to lean upon — encouraged me, by every 
 means he could, by the moft gentle accents, and 
 the moft Toothing, mollifying language, to ipeak to 
 him without the leaft referve — exhoiied me to tell 
 him the truth in every thing we fpoke of — and 
 hinted to me, that my falling into his hands might 
 turn out the moft fortunate event of my life. 
 
 I was at a lols to what motive to attribute all thofe 
 lingular marks of indulgence ; but found that he 
 had learned whofe Ion I was, and knew my father 
 by reputation from the prifoners, our Sepoys, who 
 were now prifoners at large here : and as rank and 
 office are the chief recommendation in the Eaft, as 
 well as ellewhere, or rather much more than any 
 where elfe, the fagacious Hyat Sahib found many 
 claims to efteem and humanity in me as the ion of 
 a Colonel Campbell, which he never would have 
 found in me had I been the fon of a plain humblt 
 farmer or tradefman in England. 
 
304 COMMITTED TO PRISON. 
 
 After a full hour's audience, in which Hyat 
 Sahib treated me with diitinguiihed marks of his 
 favour, confidering my fituation, he difmiffed me 
 with the ceremony of beetle-nut,* roie-water, and 
 other compliments, which are in that country held 
 e ftrongeft marks of politenefs, refpeft, and 
 good-will. 
 
 Leaving the Durbar, I was led to the inner fort 
 
 or citadel : and the officious zeal of thofe about me, 
 
 -ling to let me remain ignorant of that which 
 
 conceived to be a mod fortunate turn in my 
 
 ■' «% • the coup dc grace to my mileries ab I 
 
 by congratulating me on the favourable 
 
 he jemadar had formed of me, and 
 
 [acne time that 1 would foon be 
 
 ' .pechbie command in Ryder's 
 
 • 
 
 > before, this intimation entire- 
 remnant of peace or hope. I 
 i ihouland deaths -foener than 
 ile to Great Britain — but dill 
 t, whole country, nature and princi- 
 . I rever think of without 
 a I judged, triat if iuch an 
 ilea it; my life 
 , to the and diiappoint- 
 
 , v.. .. : lei ft 1 fhould live a life of imprifon- 
 ment, and nevei more behold country, family, 
 . ne&ions, cr any thing that I valued 
 in life. 
 
 That night the Jemac c an excellent fup- 
 
 per, of nor lefa than fix is own table ; 
 
 and although I had been . famifliing with the 
 
 want of wholeibme foo ea of beiiig enlilled 
 
 in the fervice of Hyder ftruck me with luch hor- 
 ror, that I left all appetite, and was scarcely able 
 to eat a mouthful. Mr. Hall and I, however, 
 
 * An aromatic nut which the Eaft Indians chew ; it is warn*, 
 and aftringent, and couiidcred by them a great refiorative. 
 
COMMITTED TO PRISON. 305 
 
 were feperated from the Lafcars, who were releafed 
 and forced to work. 
 
 Notwithstanding the favourable intentions mani- 
 fefted towards me by the Jemader, as I have alrea- 
 dy mentioned, no mark of it whatfoever appeared 
 irf our lodging. This confided of a fmall place, 
 exactly the fize of our length and breadth, in the 
 zig-zag of one of the gates of the citadel : it was 
 open in front, but covered with a kind of a fhed 
 on the top ; and a number of other prifoners were 
 about us : e^ch of us was allowed a mat and pillow, 
 and this formed the whole of our local accommoda- 
 tions. Upon my remarking ir, we were told, that 
 in conformity to the cuftom of the Circar,* we 
 muft be treated fo for fome time, but that our ac- 
 commodations would afterwards be extended, and 
 made more agreeable to our wifhes : even this was 
 better than our fituation fince we landed. 
 
 In addition to this luxury, we were allowed to 
 the value of four pence halfpenny a day for our 
 maintenance ; and a guard of Sepoys was put over 
 us and a few more priloners, one of whom was di- 
 rected to go and purchaie our victuals, and do fuch 
 offices for us. 
 
 This guard was changed every week — a ftrong 
 mark of the fulpicious and wary tempers of thole 
 people, who could fear intrigues and cabals between 
 wretched prifoners like us and their ioldiers. 
 
 In two or three days after this, Hyat Sakib 
 fent for me, treated me with great kindnefs, gave 
 me fome tea, and furnilhed me with two or three 
 fhirts, an old coat, and two pairs of breeches, 
 which were (tripped from the dead bodies that 
 were. thrown aihore from trje wreck — every 'thing 
 that was iaved from e lent to Biddanore. At 
 
 this interview he trea-cd me with great refpe£t-- 
 gave me, behues the articles already mentioned, 
 
 * Country or Pi-ovince. 
 C c 2 
 
3° 6 
 
 COMMITTED TO PRISON. 
 
 thirty rupees — and, upon my going away, told me 
 that in a few days a verv flattering propolal would 
 be made to me. and that my fituation would be ren- 
 dered not only comfortable, but enviable. 
 
 It is impofublc for me to exprefs to you, my dear 
 Frederick ! the horror I felt at the idea of this 
 intended propofal — for I knew but too well what 
 it meant. It was the fource of bitter mifeiy to my 
 mind : neverthelefs, I determined to refill every 
 eftoit that fhould be made, whether blandifhment, 
 intreaty, or menace — to lay down my life it (elf, 
 though in oblcurity, with honour — and to carry 
 alcrg with me, go where I would, the conicioui- 
 neis of having done my duty. 
 
 I have in the courie of my life met with many 
 people, who, under the plaufible pretext of libe- 
 rality and greatneis of mind, have called themfelve* 
 citizens of the world, and declared that the coun- 
 try where they lived, be that what country it might, 
 was their's, and demanded their allegiance and pro- 
 tection : but I have always fhrewdly fufpefted, that 
 fuch men aft from a confeiouinefs of being outcafts 
 of their own country— -and. fcorned and rejected 
 by their fellow-citizens, would retaliate by affe&ing 
 to deny their natural attachment. There are men 
 who nei heir love father, mother, fitter, brother, 
 or connection : fuch, however, are, thank God ! 
 very thinly fown in this world ; but, except it be 
 a few fuch unnatural people, I am convinced that 
 there is no one whole heart does not confefs the 
 patriotic paiTion, and burn with a flame, more or 
 lei's ardent, of love for his country. My predi- 
 lections that way are naturally ftrong, and I am 
 now happy to rtfieft that 1 evinced them by the 
 mo ft unequivocal proofs : had I not, I were in- 
 deed, in my own opinion, fit forany punifhment, 
 however ignominious : and to all fuch as lift their 
 arms againtt theii jconntry, as to Parricides, I will 
 fay, in the words of the poet, 
 
HISTORY OF HYAT SAHIB. 307 
 
 " Never pray more — abandon all remorfe : 
 
 •' On horrors head, horrors accumulate; 
 
 '! Do deeds to make Heaven weep — all earth amaz'd ; 
 
 ** For nothing can'il thou to damnation add, 
 
 « Greater than that." 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 V_>/N the. evening of that day on which 
 the Jemadar Hyat Sahib had honoured me with 
 an audience, given me clothes and money, and 
 informed me that a propolal, which he called flat- 
 tering, would be made to me, I was lent for to 
 attend, not at the Durbar, but at the houfe of a 
 man high in office. As I expected to meet Hyat 
 Sahib himfelf, and trembled at the thoughts of 
 his expe&ed proportion, 1 was furprifed, and in- 
 deed pleated, to find that it was with one of his 
 people only I was to have a conference. This 
 man, whofe name I now forget, received me with 
 great kindnefs, encouraged me, made me fit down 
 with him, and began to fpeak of Hyat Sahib, 
 whom he extolled to the fkies, as a perion endowed 
 with every great and amiable quality ; informing me 
 at the fame t;me, that he was pofTefTed of the friend- 
 ship and confidence of his matter, Hyder Alli, 
 in a greater degree than any other perion— Tip poo 
 Sahib, his own fon, not excepted : he then gave 
 me the private hiftory of Hyat— faying, that he 
 was born a Gentoo prince, of one of the provin- 
 ces of the Malabar coair, which had fallen beneath 
 the irrefiftible arms of Hyder, and had been by 
 him annexed to the vail Myforean Empire. Hy- 
 at, he (aid, was then only a boy of eleven or 
 twelve years of age, of a moll promifing genius, 
 and a quickneis of mind unul'uaily met with in 
 
3o3 HISTORY OF HYAT SAHIB. 
 
 one of thofe tender years. Hyder, who was ixt 
 all refpe&s a man of unrivalled penetiation, thought 
 he faw in the boy that which, if properly culti- 
 Yated, would turn out of vad ule to a date ; and 
 as, in all Mahomedan governments, unconnected, 
 ifolated boys, oft-times flaves, are bred up in the 
 feraglio to fucceed to the great offices of the date, 
 Hyder. adopted the boy, had him made a Mahome- 
 dan, and, in faff., treated him as if he had been the 
 iiTue of his own loins, and brought him up with all 
 the affecVon ard tendernels of a fend parent. I am 
 the more particular in dating this part of Hyat'i 
 hidory to you, as fome refpefb.ble hiftorians 1 , de- 
 ceived by erroneous report, have faid that he was 
 the illegitimate offspring of Hyder. The iultan, 
 however, ves not difappointed in the expectations 
 he had formed ; for Hyat Sahib had, in zeal, fi- 
 delity and attachment, as well as in intellectual facul- 
 ties and talents for governing, even luipaffed the 
 warmed hopes of his mafter. 
 
 Having given me this concife account of the 
 Jemadar, he proceeded to inform me, that the 
 Arcot Sepoys, whom I have before mentioned to 
 you, had dfcoveied to Hyat Sahib who I was, 
 given him a full account of my Family, and inform- 
 ed him that I had comma-nded a regiment of cavalry 
 in the fervice of the Nabob of At cot, together 
 wi}h a corps of infantry and artillery attached to 
 it. In confeq lei ce of this report, Hy at Sahib, 
 he faid, had ini :r< fted himfeif very warmly in my 
 favour, a. .J exrpelled an anxious defne to render 
 me a fervice. 
 
 Thus far the difcourfe plea f-d me. Nothing was 
 faid in it to give m< alarm ; on the contrary, I in- 
 dulged a hope, that, knowing my ranic, and the 
 rank of my father, he would no longer enteitain a 
 hope of my enter ng into the fervice of Hyder, 
 and for the time I i/vas 'o be in. t rifoned, treat mc 
 with fuitable indulgence. But i flattered m/ielf 
 too foon ; or, as the old faying is, 4; reckoned with- 
 out wy hod." 
 
HISTQRY OF HYAT SAHIB. 309 
 
 When he had finifhed his hiftory of Kyat Sa- 
 sib, which he overcharged with fulfome panegyric, 
 he told me, with a face full of that triumphant im- 
 portance which one who thinks he is conferring a 
 great favour generally affumes, that it was the inten- 
 tion of Hyat Sahi&, for and on behalf of his maf- 
 ter the Sultan, to give rre the command of five 
 thoufand men — an offer which he fuppoied I coald 
 not think of declining, and therefore expe&ed no 
 other anfwer but a profusion of thanks, and ftrong 
 manifestations of jjy on my part. 
 
 It is not pofiible for me to defcribe to you my 
 difmay at this formal propoial, or pourtray to you 
 the various emotions that took poiTcffion of my 
 breafh Refentment had its [have — the pride of the 
 foldier, not unaccompanied with the pride of fami- 
 ly and rank, while it urged me to fpurn from me 
 fuch a bafe accommodation, made me cociider the 
 offer as a great infult. 1 therefore pauled a little, to 
 fupprefs my feelings ; and then told him my firm 
 xejblution, never to accept of fuch a propoial ; and 
 upon his exniefiing grc^: aftonifhment at mv de- 
 1 fraught with advantage, I laid 
 do'-.v;'. i.. the beft manner I could, my reaions ; 
 and 1 muft fay, fhat he listened to all the objections 
 I Parted with gteat patience ; but, in the conclu- 
 iion, laid he had little doubt of finding means to 
 overcome mv reluctance. 
 
 He difmiffed me for the prefent, and I returned 
 to my pri(on, where I related to my companion, 
 Mr. Hall, every thing that palled between us : 
 we canvailed the mntter fully, and he agreed with 
 me, that it was likely to turn out^ moil dreadful 
 and cruel perlecution. It was on this cccalion that 
 I firft felt the truth of the principle, that persecu- 
 tion never fails to be lubverfive of its own end, and 
 to promote that which.it is intended to deft: 
 There is, in the human mind, an inn ite abhorrence 
 oi compulfion ; and perlecution always gives new 
 
310 HISTORY OF HYAT SAHIB. 
 
 ftrengthjand elafticity to the foul : and atlaft, whea 
 drained to its utrroft extent, makes man furmount 
 difHculties which at fir ft feem to be beyond the 
 reach of humanity. 
 
 Piqued by th.: idea of perfecuticn, I began to 
 feel a degree of enthufiafm which I was before a 
 ftranger to : I looked forward, with a kind of 
 gloomy pleafure, to the mileries that brutal tyranny 
 might ir.flifl: upon me, even to death it fell ; and 
 already began to indulge the exultation of martyr- 
 dom " N ,'' laid I, " my dear Hall! never will 
 I tarnifh the chara£l:r of a Britifh soldier — never 
 will 1 difgrace my blood or my profeffion — never 
 {hull an aft of mine fully the pure fame of my re- 
 vered father — never fhail any fufferings of mine, 
 however poignant, or woildly advantage, however 
 feduclive, tempt me to do that which his noble fpirit 
 would regard with horror or contempt. I may, 
 and I fore fee I muft be miferabie ; but I never will 
 be bafe or degenerate !" Indeed. I had wrought 
 myfelf up to fuch a pitch of firmnefs, that I ara 
 perfuaded the moft exquiiite and refined cruelties 
 which the ingenuity of an Iroquois Indian could 
 have inflicted on my body, would have been utterly 
 incapable of bending the ftubborn temper of my 
 mind. 
 
 The place in which we were lodged was fituated 
 in a wav not very favourable to our feelings. Juft 
 within fight of it, the commandant of the citadel 
 held a court— -by him yclep'd a court of juftice— — 
 where the nv>fr (hocking, barbmious cruellies were 
 hour'y exerciied — moft of them for the purpofe of 
 extorting money, and compelling the difcovery of 
 hidden, or fuppofilious hidden trealures. Indeed, 
 five fixths of thole who fuffered were of this det- 
 enu; ion ; and the prccefs perlued was as artful as 
 batbarious : they fit ft begin with cardies, then 
 proceeded to examination and croft-examination, 
 thence to threats, thence to punifhment, and final- 
 ly, to the moft cruel tortures. - 
 
HISTORY OF HYAT SAHIB. 3 1 1 
 
 Direftly oppofite to us, was imprifoned an un- 
 fortunate pei Ion, who had for years been a clofe 
 captive, and the fport and fubject. of thofe enormi- 
 ties. He was a man once of the higheft rank in 
 the country where now he was a prifoner : for a 
 ieries of years he had been govenor and fole mana- 
 ger of the whole province of Biddanore. This was 
 during the reign of the lafl Rana, or Queen, whofe 
 family had been iovereigns of the country for time 
 immemorial, till Hyder made a con que ft of, and 
 annexed it to his other ufurpations. Unfortunately 
 for him, he was fuppoied to have amaiTed and fc- 
 creted enormous treafures, in confequence of which 
 he had already undergone the fiery ordeal of tor- 
 ture feveral times. He was fuppofed to have pro- 
 duced, from firlt to laft, about fifteen lacks of pa- 
 godas ; and then, in the courfe of eighteen months, 
 was degraded gradually, from the high refoect. in 
 which he was at firft held, down to a mod abj?cl: 
 ftate— threatened, flogged, punifhed in a variety of 
 ways, and, finally, put to the mod cruel tortures. 
 I myfelf faw him treated with the higheft degree of 
 lelpcct,, and afterwards br< ;ht to the lowed ftage 
 of mifery and humiliation. C r , however, 
 
 I muft not forget, is the fortitude 
 and all of them bore their punithinent : truly 
 
 heroic---indeed 3 be\;nd all belief. No could 
 
 furpafs it. :xcept the {kill and inventive ingei 
 which the barbarians exhibited in linking out 
 modes of torture. My foui fickened with honor 
 at the fight : the amiable Hall could worie lup- 
 port it than his own rmferies, and loit all that for- 
 titude, in his feeling for others' misfortunes, which 
 he difplayed in fo unbounded a (bare in his own : 
 and often, very often, we found the rigour and 
 iiy of our own fituation utteily forgotten in 
 our anguilh and fympathy for the tufTerings of 
 others. Never (hall I forget it : never {hall 1 think 
 without horror of the accurled policy and wicked 
 
$12 HISTORY OF HYAT SAHIB. 
 
 tyranny of the Eaflern governments, where every 
 fenfe of humanity is extinguished, and man, mor« 
 mercilefs than the tyger, riots in the blood of his 
 fellow-creatures without caufe. 
 
 Mr. Hall, notwithstanding the various fufferings 
 both of mind and body which he had undergone, 
 began to recruit, and get a little better ; and this 
 circumftance, of itielf, diffuied a flow of fpirits 
 over me that contributed to my fupport. We con- 
 foled each other by every means we could devile — 
 fometimes indulging in all the luxury of woe — 
 fometimes rallying each oiher, and, with ill-diiTem- 
 bled fprightlineis, calling on the goddef* Euph ro- 
 sy ne to come with her il quirps and cranks, and 
 wreathed /miles :" but, alas! the mountain nymph, 
 fweet Liberty, was far away, and the goddefs 
 fhunned our abode. We however began to con- 
 ceive that we might form a fyftem for our relief, 
 and by a method. cal arrangement, entrench our- 
 felves from the affaults of grief : to this end, we 
 foimed lev^ral reforutions, and enter* d into certain 
 engagements — fuch as, nevei to repine at our fate, 
 if ue could — '■'.■> draw confojation from the more 
 ul lot of others, if we cculd ; — and to encou- 
 tope — hope that comes to all ; and, on the 
 whole, to confine our conversation as much as pofTi- 
 ble to fubje£t& of an agreeable nature: but thefe, 
 other uiies which we lay doww for the 
 :t of life, were often broken by neceility, 
 i left us to regrel the fallibility of all human pre- 
 - ns. 
 2 youth end ftrength of Mr. Hall was to the 
 full as adequate as mine to the iupport of any per- 
 ioral I : his intellectual powers were excel- 
 lent, his temper incomparable, and his fortitude 
 unparalleled ; yet could 1 lee, that lomething mora 
 than appeared upon the furface wrought within 
 him, and gnawed his heart with hidden pain. Uni- 
 ted as we were by ientiment, as well as by polity 
 
Mr. HALL's AFFECTING STORY. 313 
 
 ^>f fuffering, I felt for him too deeply, not to have 
 an interefting <;uriofity to know what it was that 
 preyed upon his mind : we had been, months to- 
 gether, fcllow-fufferers ; and I thought myielf not 
 without forae claim to his confidence — i told him 
 io, and defired him to impart to me his (lory; 
 which he, with his accuflomed fuavity and conde- 
 fcenfion, agreed to — alluring me that it was not 
 fuch a flory as could requite the trouble of hearing 
 it, or intereft any one but himlelf, or fome very 
 warm friend indeed : fuch, however, he added, he 
 took me to be ; and, as fuch, would tell it to me. 
 •I think it, however, worth relating, and will give 
 it to you in his own words ; and, though it be 
 very fhort, mult defer the relation to another 
 letter. 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 M 
 
 • k. Hall having, as I told you in my 
 laft, obligingly agreed to favour me with a rela- 
 tion of his flory, I now give it to you as nearly 
 in his own woads as I can remember them. He 
 proceeded thus.; 
 
 *' Ahbough you are now, my dear friend ! a 
 withefs to my being the moft perfectly wretched cf 
 all created beings, yet the time is not long pad 
 when fortune Imiled upon and gave me promiie of 
 as much happineis as Man in this wretched vale cf 
 tears i; allowed by his circumfenbed naiuie to hope 
 for. I have leen the time, when each revolving 
 fun rofe to ufher me to a day of joy, and let to 
 conlign me to a night of undiflurbed repofe — when 
 the bounties of Nature, and the productions of 
 Art, were poured with the profufion of fond pale;- 
 
 D d 
 
314 Mr. HALL's AFFECTING STOHY. 
 
 nal affe£lion into my lap — when troops of friends 
 hailed my rifing proipects — when health and peace 
 made this perion their uninterrupted abode — and 
 when the molt benignant love that ever bleiTed a 
 mortal filled up the meafuie of my bl i is. Yes, 
 Campbell! it was once my happinels, though 
 now, alas! the (outce of poignant miiery, to be 
 bleiTed with the bed parents that ever watched 
 over the welfare of a child — with friends, too, 
 who loved me, and whom my heart cherifhed — 
 and — O God! do I think of her, and yet retain 
 my fenles — with the affe&ions of a young lady, 
 than whom providence, in the fullnefs of its 
 power and bounty to mankind, never formed one 
 more lovely, one more angelic in peifon, more 
 heavenly in difpofition, more rich in intellectual 
 endowments. Alas! my friend, will you, can you 
 pardon thofe warm ebullitions of a fond paflion ? 
 "will you for a moment enter into my feelings, and 
 make allowance for thofe tranfports ? But how can 
 you ? Your friendship and pity may indeed induce 
 you to excufe this interruption ; but, to fympathile 
 truly, and feel as I feel, you mult have known the 
 charming girl herfelf. 
 
 " My father, though he did not move in the 
 very fir'ft walk of life, held the rank of a Gentle- 
 man by birth and education, and was refpe&able, 
 not only as a man of conhderable property, but as 
 a perfon. who knew how to turn the gifts of for- 
 tune to their bed account : he was generous with- 
 out prodigality, and charitable without oRentation : 
 he was allowed by all who knew him to be the mod 
 lender of hufbands — the mod zealous and fincere 
 of friends ; and I can bear witnels to his being the 
 bed of parents. As long as I can remember to 
 have been able to make a remark, the tenderneis of 
 my father and mother knew no bounds: I 
 feemed to occupy all their thoughts, all their atten- 
 tion ; and in a few years, as I thank God I never 
 
Mr. HALL's AFFECTING STORY. 315. 
 
 made un unfuitable return for their affection, it in- 
 creafed to fuch a degree, that their exiitence Teemed 
 to hang upon mine. 
 
 " To make fo much of a child fo beloved as his 
 natural talents would allow, no expence was Iparcd 
 in my education : from childhood, every in ft ruc- 
 tion that money could purchafe. and every allure- 
 ment to learn, that for.dnefs could fugged, were 
 bellowed upon me : while my beloved faiher trac- 
 ing the advances I made with the magnifying eye of 
 affection, would hang over me in rapture, and en- 
 joy by anticipation the fame and honours tint, 
 overweening fonclnels fuggefted to him, mud one 
 day furround me. Thefe prejudices, my dear friend ! 
 arifing from the excels of natural affection, are ex- 
 cufeable, if not amiable, and deferve a better fate 
 than diiappointment. Alas! my honoured father, 
 you little knew — and, oh! may you never know, 
 what fort of fame, what fort of honours, await 
 your child ! May the anguifh he endures, and his 
 mod calamitious fate, never reach your ears! — for, 
 too well I know, 'twould give a deadly wrench to 
 your heart, and precipitate you untimely to your 
 grave. 
 
 M Thus years rolled on ; during which, time 
 feemed to have added new wings to his flight, io 
 quickly did they pafs. Unmarked by any of thofe 
 Unifier events that parcel out the time in weary 
 flages to the unfortunate, it (lid on unperceived; 
 and an enlargement in my fize, and an increafe of 
 knowledge, were all I had to inform me that eigh- 
 teen years had paffed away. 
 
 It was at this time that I fir ft found the frnooth 
 current of my tranquility interrupted, and the tide 
 of my feelings fwelled and agitated, by the accefiion 
 of new ftreams of fenfation — In fhort 1 became a 
 flave to the delicious pains of Love ; and, after 
 having borne them in concealment for a long time, 
 at length collected courage 10 declare it. Franknels 
 
316 Mr. HALL's AFFECTING STORY. 
 
 and candour were among the virtues of my belov- 
 ed : fhe liftened to the protections of affeftion,. 
 and. rifing above the lir.Ie arts of her iex, avowed 
 a reciprocal attachment. The meafure of my blifa 
 frcmed now to be full : the purity of my paflion 
 was focb, that the thoughts of the grofler animal 
 defires Mever once cccuied ; and happy in loving,, 
 and b?in£ beloved, we p?.(Ted our time in all the in- 
 nocent bJandifiiments which truly virtuous love in- 
 lpires, without our imag' nation roaming even for 
 ari ir.Rant into the wilds of feniuality. 
 
 " As I was to inherit a genteel, independent 
 fortune, my father propofed to breed me up to a 
 learned piofciT.on — 'he Law ; rather to invigorate 
 and excie-fe my intellects, and as a ftep to timk in 
 the fL'e. -than for mere lucrative purpofes, I was 
 put to one of the univcifuies, with an allowance 
 j.'itcd to his intentions towards me ; and was im- 
 mediately to have been fent to travel for my fu ther 
 improvement, when an unfoiefeen accident hap- 
 pened, which immediately ciufhecf all my fathers- 
 views, ddfhed the cup of happinefs from my lips,, 
 and brought me ultimately to that deplcrable ftate 
 in which you have now the misfortune to be join- 
 ed a!on£ with me. 
 
 (i It was but a few months antecedent to my 
 embarking for the eaflern woild, that my father^ 
 v horn I had for fome time with forrow obferved 
 thoughtful, ftudious and melancholy, took me into 
 iiis ftudj, and, feizing my hand, and looking ear- 
 neftiy into my face, while his countenance betrayed 
 ihe violent agitation of his mind, afked me empha- 
 ticallv, if I thought I had fortitude to bear the 
 gi eat eft poffible calamity ? I was horror-flruck at 
 his emotion, accompanied by Inch a queftion — 
 but replied, I hoped I had. He then aiked me if 
 I had afTcciion enough for him to forgive him if he 
 was the caufe of it ? I anfwered, that the idea 
 connected with the word forgivenej^ was :'at 
 
Mr. HALL's AFFECTING STORY. 3 I 7 
 
 which I could never be brought by any earthly 
 circumstance to apply to my father ; but begged 
 him at once to difclofe the word to me — as, be it 
 what it might, my mifery could not (urpafs what 
 I then felt from the myflerious manner in which 
 he then (poke. 
 
 M He then told me that he was an undone man — 
 that he had, with the very beft intentions, and 
 with the view of aggrandizing me, engaged in great 
 and important fpeculations, which, had they tuc- 
 ceeded, would have given us a piincely foi tune- 
 but, having turned out, unfortunately, the reverfe, 
 had left him little above beggary. He added, that 
 he had not the reioiution to communicate his lofles 
 to me, until neceiiity compelled him to tell me all 
 the truth. 
 
 " Although this w^s a fevere fhock to me, I en- 
 deavoured to conceal my feelings from my father, 
 on vvhofe account, more than on my own, I was af- 
 fected, and pretended to make as light of it as fo 
 very important a misfortune would juftify ; and I 
 had the happinsfs to perceive that the worthy man 
 took fome comfort from my fuppoied indifference. 
 I conjured him not to let lo very trivial a thing as 
 the lots of property, which could be repaired, 
 break in on his peace of mind or health, which 
 could not ; and obferved to him, that we had all 
 oi us (till enough — for that my private property 
 (which I poffeffed independent of him, and which. 
 a relation left me) would amply fupply all our nu- 
 ce Hi ties. 
 
 " Having thus endeavoured to accommodate my 
 unhappy father's feelings to his lodes, I had yet to 
 accommodate my own ; and began to revolve in 
 my mind what was likely to enfue from, and what 
 ftep was mod proper to be taken, in this dreadful 
 change of circumltances. That which lay neared 
 my heart fir it occurred ; — you will read I! v guefe 
 that I mean my love : to involve her 3 
 
 D d 2 
 
3l8 Mr. IIALL's AFFECTING STORY. 
 
 far more, than my life, in the misfortunes of my 
 fjtniiy, was too horrible a confideration to be out- 
 weighed even by the dread of lofing her. I knew 
 not what to do, and I thought upon it till I became 
 aimofl enfrenzied — la this flate I went to her, and 
 unfolded the whole flate of our concerns, together 
 with my refolution not to involve her in our ruin ; 
 —when-— can you believe it ?— the lovely girl in- 
 filled on making my fate indiifolubly her's-— not, as 
 fhe faid, that fhc had the fmallefl appreheniion 
 lapfe of time or change of circumftance could make 
 an alteration in our affeftion, but that {he wifhed. 
 to give my mind that repofe which 1 might derive 
 from iecurity. This I would by no means accede 
 to : and, for the prefent, we contented ouriclves 
 v.iLh mutual vows of eternal fidelity. 
 
 t; As foon as I thought my father's mind fit for 
 fuch a converfation, I opened to him a plan 1 had 
 formed of coming to India, to advance my fonune. 
 His under Handing approved of it, but his heart 
 duTcnted: and he faid. that to part with me would 
 give the finifhing ftroke to his misfortunes ; but, 
 as my interefl was tolerably good, I teprefented to 
 him the great likelihood 1 had of fuccefs ; and at 
 I ail, with iome difficulty, he confented. 
 
 " My next ilep was to acquaint Mifs 
 
 with my refolution. I purpoiely pafs over a meet- 
 ing which no power of language can defcribe S — 
 then how can I ? — Oh ! Campbell, the remem- 
 brance of it gnaws me like a vulture here," (and 
 he put his hand upon his heart, while the tears rol- 
 led down his cheeks), '• and will loon, foon bring 
 me to my end. 
 
 " Not to detain you with vain efforts to defcribe 
 all our feelings, I will confine mylelf to telling you 
 that after having made every neceflary preparation, 
 and divided wich my much honoured parents the 
 little property I polIcfTed, I fet fail for India, in a 
 flue of mind comoared with which the horrors of 
 
REFUSE TO ENTER INTO, &c. 319 
 
 annihilation would have been enviable : the choas 
 in ray thoughts made me infenfible to every objcft 
 but one ; and 1 brooded with a fort of flupid, 
 
 gloomy indulgence, over the portrait of Mils , 
 
 which hung round my neck, and was my infepcra- 
 ble companion, till the people who feized me as I 
 came afhore plundered me of it, and thereby depri- 
 ved me of the hft refuge for comlort I had left. 
 Oh ! mongers ! barbarians ! had you glutted your 
 lavage fury by difievering my limbs, one after ano- 
 ther, from my body, it would have been mercy, 
 compared with depriving me of that little image 
 of her I love ! But it is all over, and I (hall loon 
 link into the grave, and never more be blefled 
 with the view of tbofe heavenly features, till we 
 meet in that region where all tears are wiped away, 
 and where, I truft, we fhall be joined together for 
 endlcfs ages, in eternal, never-lading bliis I" 
 
 LETTER L1I. 
 
 o 
 
 N the day fucceeding that on which 
 the agent of Hyat Sahib had held the difcourfe 
 with me, mentioned in my lad letter but one, I 
 was again fent for, and brought to the fame perlon, 
 who afked me, whether I had dulv confidered of 
 the important ofler made me by Hyat Saiiid, 
 and of the confequences likely to refult from a 
 refufal ? and he apprifed me at the fame time, that 
 the command of five thoufand men was an honour* 
 which the firft Rajahs in the Myforean dominions 
 w.ould grafp at with tranfport. I told him 1 was 
 well convinced of the honour fuch a command 
 would confer on any man but an Englifhman, 
 whole country being the objeft of Hvder's incef- 
 
320 REFUSE TO ENTER INTO 
 
 fant hofh'lity, would make the acceptance of it in- 
 famy — that although I knew there were but too 
 many Englifhmen apoftates to their country, I 
 hoped there were but few to be found in India 
 willing to accept of any emoluments, however 
 great, or any temptations, however fpecious, to 
 fly from the ftandaid of their country, and rally 
 round that of its bittereft enemy—-that, for my 
 own part, being of a name ever foremoft in the 
 ranks of loyalty and patriotifm, and of a family 
 that had hitherto detracted nothing frcm the ho- 
 nours of that name, fuch an «& of apoftacy would 
 be peculiarly infamous in me, and I could view it 
 in no better light than traitorous and parricidal— - 
 that, independent of all thofe claims, which were 
 of themfelves fufficient to deter me, I felt within 
 myfelf a principle, perhaps innate, perhaps infpi- 
 red by military habit, that forbade my acceding--- 
 and, finally, appealed to the good fenfe of Hyat 
 Sahib, whether a man who in fuch circumftances 
 had. betrayed his country, and facrificed her inter- 
 efts to his own convenience, was luch a perfon as 
 confidence could properly be put in. 
 
 Notwithstanding theie, and a thoufand other le- 
 mon ftranceSj which I cannot immediately recollect, 
 but which the hazards of my frtuation fuggefted, he 
 ftill continued to prefs me, and ufed every argu- 
 ment, every perfuafion, that ingenuity could dic- 
 tate, or hints of punifhment enforce, to {hake my 
 purpofe — but in vain : attachment to country and 
 family rofe paramount to all other considerations ; 
 and I gave a peremptory, decifive refufal. 
 
 Circumftanced as I was, it was impoflible for me 
 to keep an accurate journal of the various incidents 
 that paiTed, or viciiTitudcs of thought that occur- 
 red, during the period of my imprilbnment. In- 
 deed, I was fcarcely confcious of the length of 
 ray captivity, and could not, till I was relcafed^. 
 rmine exactly how long it had continued. You 
 
HYDER ALLI'S SERVICE:. J21 
 
 mud therefore content yourfelf to be told in gene- 
 ral terms, that I was repeatedly urged on the fub- 
 jeft by fair perfuafi ves : they then had recourfe to 
 menace ; then they withheld the daily pittance al- 
 lowed for my fupport •, and at length proceeded to 
 coercion, tying a rope round my neck, and hoift- 
 ing me up to a tree. All this, however, 1 bore 
 firmly: if it had any effe&, it was to confirm me 
 in my refolution, and call in policy to the aid of 
 honour's dictates. Every man of feeling or rea- 
 fon muft allow, that it was better to die, than 
 live a life of (ubjectlon to tyranny fo truly diabo- 
 lical. 
 
 Mr, Hall and I, thus drove to the brink of ex- 
 tinction, yet confoled ourfclves with the reflection, 
 that thofe whom mod we loved were not (haring 
 our unhappy fate, and were fortunately ignorant of 
 our fufferings ; and as I enjoyed perfect good health,, 
 hope yet lived within me. 
 
 There is a fpring, an elaflicity, in every man's- 
 mind, of which the owner is rarely, very rarely 
 con (clous, becaufe fortunately the occafions ieldom 
 occur in which it can be brought to the proof, for, 
 as laflitude is the neceffary forerunner of refrcfh- 
 ment, fo is extreme dejection to the moft vigorous 
 excreife of our fortitude. So I found it : as the 
 horrors of my fi uation thickened round me, I felt 
 my fpirits increafe j. my refolution became more 
 fiim, my hopes more fanguine-— I even began to 
 look forward, and form projects for the future : 
 whole hours amufement, every day and every night,, 
 arofe from the contemplation of my beloved boy;. 
 I in imagination traced his growth, directed his 
 rifing ientiments, formed plans for his future fuc- 
 ceis and profperity, and indulged by anticipation in 
 all the enjoyment which I now truft, 1 {hail yet 
 have in his ripened manhood. 
 
 Thus we continued for miny month?, during 
 which do alteration whatfocver took place in our 
 
322 REFUSE TO ENTER INTO 
 
 treatment or fituation. We heard a thoufand con- 
 tiadsctory reports of vi&ories gained over the Eng- 
 liftr, and again of lome iucceffes on their part : 
 they, however, defifted to preis me into their (er- 
 rice. The only relief from our fufff rings lay in the 
 rciources of our own minds, and in our mutual en- 
 devours lo pleaie and confoleone another : the cir- 
 rumft.uices of aggtavation were the neceflity of dai- 
 ly bearing witnefstolhe mod barbarous punifhments 
 he inflicted upon wretched individuals under the 
 iemblance of iultice, and the occafional depriva- 
 tion of our food, cither by the fraud of the lepoys 
 v. ho attended us, or the caprice or cruelty of their 
 iwperiors. It is but juflice, however, to lay, that 
 they were not all alike : iome ovei flowed uith mer- 
 cy, charity, and the milk of human kindnefs ; 
 while others, again, were almoft as bad men as the 
 fovereigns they ierved. We were not allowed the 
 ufe of pen, ink, or paper j and very feldom could 
 afford ourlelves the luxury of fhaving, or clean lin- 
 en : nor were we at all fheltered from the incle- 
 mency of the weather, till at length a little room 
 was built for us of mud, which being fmall and 
 damp, rendered our filuation vvorfe than it was 
 before. 
 
 The prifoner whom I have already mentioned, 
 as having, in the time of the former fovereign, 
 held the fitft office in Bidanore, (till continued op- 
 pofite to me ; and he and I at length began lo un- 
 deiftand each other, and found means, by looks, 
 iigns and geftures, to exchange thoughts, and hold 
 an intercourfe of fentiments together. From the 
 circumftance of his being a native, and better (kil- 
 led in the language than me, he had much better 
 intelligence than I could pofiibly have, and he was 
 always eager to convey to me any circumftance or 
 news that he thought might be agreeable : (omc 
 meffjges alio patted between us, by means of the 
 iepoys who had alternately been his guard and mine 
 —for our guards were changed every week. 
 
HYDER ALLI'S SERVICE. 323 
 
 Prc^je&s and hopes of a new kind now began to 
 intrude them(elves on mv thoughts ; and I con- 
 ceived a deiii>ri, which I flattered mylelf was not 
 entirely impracticable to effect an efcape, and even 
 a revolt in the place. A variety of chcumftances 
 concurred to perluade me, that the tyranny of Hy- 
 de r, and his fervant Hyat Sahib, was abhorred, 
 though none dared to give vent to their (entimems. 
 I thought I could oblerve, that the native prifoner 
 oppofite to me was privately beloved, and might, 
 from the recollection of his former dignities, have 
 connderable influence in the place. Several Arcot 
 fepoys and their officers (fome of them belonging 
 to my own regiment) were alfo prifoners at large ; 
 and withal I recollected, that difficulties apparent- 
 ly more flupendous had been overcome by Englifh- 
 men — having often heard it afferted, that there was 
 not a prifon in the known world out of which a 
 Britifh fubjecthad not made his efcape. 
 
 Fraught with thofe conceptions, I attempted to 
 found the officers of the Arcot Sepoys, whether it 
 were not poflible for us to efTetf. our efcape ? So 
 ardent is the flame of liberty in all men's breads, lo 
 great is the dcteftation of human nature to fhvery, 
 that 1 perceived a manifeft willingneis in the peo- 
 ple about us to join me in an attempt to procure our 
 liberty, or bring about a revolt in the garrilon. 
 My heart beat high with the hope ; and I began to 
 flatter mylelf, that, the day was not far removed 
 when we fhould not only bid defiance to our ty- 
 rants, but even make them repent the day on 
 which we were caft afhore on their coaft. 
 
 Having thus diftantly founded all who I thought 
 were likely to concur, upon the practicability of 
 the attempt, and found them, as I conceived, dif- 
 pofed to take fhare in it, it yet remained 10 con- 
 sider of the quomodo — and, after having formed the 
 general outlines of apian, to lick it into fhape. 
 The firft of thefe was a critical confideration : the 
 
3U LAID IN IRONS. 
 
 fecond required addrefs and management, and was 
 likely to be impeded by the vigilance of the peo- 
 ple about, w1k> would not fail to remark, and take 
 the alarm, from any unufual intercourfe or difcourfa 
 between us ; and without a mutual communication 
 of thoughts, and full deliberation by all parties con- 
 cerned, as well as knowledge of the fort and its 
 different gates, nothing could, with any profpeft of 
 fuccefs, be determined—nothing, without the moft 
 imminent hazard, be attempted. I therefore held 
 various councils with my own mind, and with Mr, 
 Hall, on the fubjeft— moft of which were abor- 
 tive, without at all difcouraging us. 
 
 At laft I began to think of founding the Bida-* 
 nore prifoner, ci-devant governor of the place ; and 
 determined, if poflible, to bring him into our con- 
 sultations, as I had before hoped to make him a 
 party in the execution of the project : but while I 
 was fettling all this much to my own fatisfa&ion, an 
 event occured which extinguifhed all my hopes in 
 that way — of which you {hall have an account ia 
 my next letter. 
 
 LETTER L1II, 
 
 W; 
 
 H ETHER the plan which I men- 
 tioned in my Lit was discovered or not, or from 
 what other motive it arofe, I have not to this day 
 been able to decide.; but fo it was, that while my 
 i'auguine mind was ovei flowing with the hope of 
 carrying my projeft for an efcape into effect, Mr. 
 Hall and I were one day unexpectedly loeced 
 with irons, and faflened togeiher, leg by leg, by 
 or.e bolt. This, as nearly as I can compute, was 
 four or five months before my releaic. Of all lh« 
 
LAID IN IRONS. 325 
 
 circumdances of my life, it has made the ftronged 
 impredion upon my mind : it unexpectedly and 
 fuddenly broke down the rooft pleafmg fabric my 
 imagination had ever built. The (urpriie occafion- 
 ed by the appearance of the ifons, and the precau- 
 tionary manner in which it was undertaken, was 
 indeed great : (till more was I furpri'ed to obferve, 
 that the perfon who was employed to iee this put 
 in execution, manifeftedunulual emotions, feemed 
 much affefted, and even fhed tears as he looked on : 
 and while the fuddenneis and cautionary mode of 
 doing it convinced me that lome refidance on our 
 part was apprehended, the forrow which the offi- 
 •cerwho lupenntended it diiclofed, portended in 
 my mind a ratal, or at lead a very lerious iiTue. 
 
 Uofortanare.ly, poor Mr. Hall had for forae 
 time been afRi&ed with a return of his dreadful dif- 
 oruer, ihe dyientery ; and our b«ing fliackled to- 
 gether increafed an unconquerable mortification of 
 feelings which we had before undergone, from a 
 delicacy of nature that would have done honour to 
 the mod moded virgin, be her fenfibility ever fo 
 exquifite, or her delicacy ever io extreme — And 
 here, mv dear Frederick! I cannot let flip thi$ 
 opportunity of remarking to you, that the man, as . 
 well as the woman, who would render himielf tru- 
 ly amiable in the eyes of his fellow-creatures, 
 fhould cultivate delicacy and modedy, as the mod 
 captivating of all the moral viriues : from them, 
 heroiim derives additional luftre — wit, ten-fold 
 force — religion and morality, the charms of perfua- 
 fion — ana every perSonal action of the man, irre- 
 f: fable drgnity and winning grace. From this un- 
 lucky event, 1 received a temporary depreflion ; 
 and the rapidly increasing illneis of poor Ha - 
 rendered my fituatioh more than ever calamitous ; 
 v tien, "g->in, my fpirits, eagerly pioiie to graip at 
 every duug that gave a momentary hope of iupport, 
 weic a little recruited by confuted rumours of the 
 
 Ee 
 
326 LAID IN IRONS. 
 
 Englifh army having made a defcent on the Mala- 
 bar coaft : and fo powerful is the influence of mind 
 en the animal fyftem, that Mr. Hall enjoyed from 
 the report a momentary alleviation of his malady ; 
 but, having no medical affiftance, nor even fufEci- 
 ent fuftenance to further the favourable operations 
 of nature, he relapled again ; the difeale fell upon 
 him with redoubled fury : a very fcanty portion of 
 boiled rice, with a more fcanty morlel of ftinking 
 fait fifh or putrid flefh, was a very inadequate lup- 
 port for me, who, though emaciated, was in health 
 — and very improper medicine for a perfon labour- 
 ing under a malady fuch as Mr. Hall's, which re- 
 quired comfort, good medical (kill, and delicate 
 nutritious food. The tea which Hyat Sahib had 
 given me was expended; and we were not allow- 
 ed to be fhaved from the hour we were put in 
 irons, an indulgence of th2t kii d being forbidden 
 by the barbarous rules of the prifon : and, to refine 
 upon our tortures Deep, " the balm of hurt minds," 
 Was not allowed us uninterrupted ; for, in confor- 
 mity to another regulation, we were difturbed every 
 half hour by a noiie fomething refembling a watch- 
 man's rattle, and a fellow who, flriking every part 
 of our irons with a kind of hammer, and examin- 
 ing them left they fhould be cut, broke in upon 
 that kind reftorative, . and awoke our iouls to freih 
 horrors. 
 
 As it mud be much more naturally matter of 
 aftenilhment that any bodily ftrength could lupport 
 itfelf under luch complicated calamities, than that 
 infiimity fhouid fink beneath them, you will be ra- 
 ther grieved than furprifed to hear that poor Mr. 
 Hall was now. approaching to his end with hourly 
 accelerated fteps. Every application that I made 
 in his favour was refufed, or rather treated with 
 cruel neglect and contemptuous filence ; and I 
 foreiaw, with inexpreilible anguifh and indigna- 
 tion, that the barbarians would not abate him in hi* 
 
LAID IN IRONS. 327 
 
 lafb minutes one jot of milery, and that my moil 
 amiable friend was fated to expire under every at- 
 tendant horror that meie fublunary circumftaneea 
 could create. But that pity which the mighty, 
 the powerful and enlightened denied, natural be- 
 nevolence operating upon an uninformed mind, 
 and fcar.ty means, afforded us. Hyat Sahib, the 
 powerful, the wealthy, the governor of a great 
 opulent province, refufed to an expiring fellow- 
 cieature a little cheap relief — while a poor ieooy 
 taxed his little means to fupply it : one who guard- 
 ed us, of his own accord, at hazard of imminent 
 fhmeM, purched us a lamp and a liftle oil, 
 which we burned for the lad few nights. 
 
 Philofophers and divines have declaimed upon 
 the advantages of a well-fpent life, as felt in arti- 
 culo mortis ; and their efforts have had, I hope, 
 fome effccl; upon the lives of many. To witncfs 
 one example* tuch as Mr. Hall held forth, would 
 be worih volumes of precepts on this fubjecl;. The 
 unfeigned refignation with which he met his diffo- 
 lution, and the majeftic fortitude with which he 
 looked in the face the various circumftances of 
 horror that furrounded him, rendered him the mod 
 dignified object 1 ever beheld or conceived, and 
 the mod glorious inftance of confcious virtue tri- 
 umphing over the terrors of death, and the Gun- 
 ning barbarity of mankind. Were the progrels of 
 virtue attended with pain, and the practice of vice 
 with pleafure, the adoption of the former would 
 be amply repaid by its Toothings in the dreadful 
 moment, even if it were to accompany us no fur- 
 ther. About a quarter of an hour before he died, 
 Mr. Hall broached a raoft tender fubjecl: of con- 
 verlation, which he followed up with a feries of 
 obfervations, fo truly refined, fo exquifitely turned, 
 fa delicate and fo pathetic, that it ieemed almoft, 
 the language of inipiration, as if, in proportion to 
 the decay of the body, intellect increaled, and the 
 
328 LAID IN IRONS. 
 
 dying man had become all mind. Such a conver- 
 sation I never remembered to have heard, or heard 
 of. Its effects upon me were wonderful ; for, 
 though the combination of melancholy circumflan- 
 Oes attending my now critical fituation had almoft 
 railed my mind to frenzv, the falutary influence of 
 his words and example controuled the excefTes of 
 my fen lations ; and I met the afflicting moment of 
 his departuie with a degree of tranquility, which, 
 though not to be compared to his, has on reflec- 
 tion appeared to me aftoniihing. This conven- 
 tion continued to the very inftant of his death ; 
 during Vhich time he held my hand clafped in his, 
 frequently enforcing his kind expreflions to me 
 with a fqueeze — while my forrpw, taking its moft 
 eafy c. nnel, bedewed my face with tears. As he 
 proceeded, my voice was choaked with my feel- 
 ings ; and I attempted once or twice in vain to 
 fpeak. His hand grew cold: he laid his lower 
 Hmj : ail lifeleis, and that he felt death com- 
 
 ing over him with flow creeping fteps — He ag.in 
 moralized, thinking God with pa ri e;:c fervout for 
 his great mercy in leaving him his intellects un- 
 clouded, and the organ of communication (the 
 tongue) unenfeeblcd, that, to the Uft, he might 
 isfiiend and fellow-fufferer — u Ah ! Camp- 
 B£M !"' continued he, " to what a ienes of mi fo- 
 ri e; am I row leaving you 1 death in fuch circum- 
 ftanczs is a blcfhng — I view mine as iuch ; and 
 fhould think it more io, if it contributed,, by awak- 
 ening thole people to a fenfe of their cruelty, to 
 foften then rigour to you : but cruelty like theii's 
 is fy Hematic, ana (loops not to the controul of the 
 feelings. Could I hope that you would yet elcape 
 from their clutches, and that you would once more 
 prels your family to yourboiom, the thought would 
 brighten (ilil the moment of our feparation : and, 
 oh ! my friend ! could 1 ftill further hope that you 
 would oue day fee icy molt beloved and honoured 
 
ACCOUNT OF HYDE& ALLI. 329 
 
 parents, and tell them of my death without wring- 
 ing their hearts with its horrid circumftances, offer 
 them my laft duties, and tell how I revered them — 
 
 If, too, you could Tee my , and tell her 
 
 how far, far more dear than !" Here he 
 
 turned his eyes toward the lamp, then faintly on 
 me — made a convulfive effort to fqueeze my hand 
 — cried out, "Campbell! oh, Campbell! the 
 lamp is going out !" and expired without a groan. 
 
 The recital of this afflicting event has called up 
 to my fancy fo lively a pi&ure of the icene as it 
 palTerl with all its horrors— horrors which outftrip 
 all efforts of defcription, and baffle all power of 
 language — that my feelings are in part renewed, 
 and I find myfelf incapable of proceeding further 
 at preient. 
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 
 JL OR fome time I was loft in grief for 
 the death of Mr. Hall. Thougxh 1 had long ex- 
 pected it, and might consequently be iuppoled to 
 have wafted great part of my forrow in anticipa- 
 tion ; yet, having only confidered and felt the 
 point before his death merely as it relpe&ed him 
 and his misfortunes, a great" portion of the calamity 
 yet remained unconceived : and, now that he was 
 dead, I began for the fir ft time to confider and" feel 
 the fubjecl; as it concerned myfelf. Reflection told 
 me, that he was happily relieved from woe, and in 
 a ftate of bills — 
 
 " After life's fitful fever, he deeps well ; 
 
 « ; Nor fteel nor poifon, 
 
 . ,; Malice domeftic, foreign levy — nothing 
 
 *« Can touch him further 1" 
 
 E e 2 
 
33° ACCOUNT OF HYDER ALU. 
 
 But I ftill remained a prey to perhaps new bar- 
 barities, without hope of relief from the old. No 
 partner to fhare, no fecial converie to alleviate, no 
 friend to coniole me under my afflictions, I looked 
 at the body of my friend with envy, and lamented 
 that death had not afforded me, too, a ihelter from 
 the cruelties which fate feemed determined to heap 
 upon me. 
 
 It is impofiible for me to exprefs to you the ago- 
 nies of mind I underwent during the reft of the 
 night. In the morning a report was made to the 
 commandant, of the death of Mr. Hall ; and in 
 about an hour after, he pafTed me by, but kept his 
 face purpofely turned away from me to the other 
 fide. I patiently waited for the removal of the 
 dead body till the evening, when I defired the Se- 
 poys who guarded me to apply for its being remov- 
 ed. They returned, and told me that they could 
 getnoanfwer refpeefcing it. Night came on, but 
 there was no appearance of an intention to unfetter 
 me from the corpie. The commandant was fitting 
 in his court, adminiftering, in the manner I have 
 before defcribed, jujlicc ! I called out to him myieif 
 with all my might, but could get no anfwer from 
 him. Nothing could equal my rage and conilerna- 
 tion ; for, exclufive of the painful idea of being 
 fhackied to the dead body of a friend I loved, an- 
 other cucumitance contributed to make it a ferious 
 icbjecl: of horror. In thofe ciimates the weather is 
 fo imeuiely hot, that putrefa&ion almoft inftantly 
 fucceeds death, and meat that is killed in the morn- 
 ing and kept in the fhade, will be unfit for dref- 
 fi.ig at night. In a fubjeft, then, on which pu- 
 trefaction had made advances even before death, 
 and which remained expofed to the open air, the 
 pToceis muft have been much more rapid. So far, 
 ever, frora compafliqnating my lituaiion, or 
 ne by a removal of the body, their ba; 
 i to them to make it an inftru;: 
 
ACCOUNT OF HYDER ALU. 3$ I 
 
 punifhment ; and they pertinacioufly adhered to 
 the molt mortifying nlence and difregard of my 
 complaints. For feveral days and nights it remain- 
 ed attached to me by the irons. I grew almoft de- 
 tracted — wifhed for the means of patting an end to 
 my miferies by death, and could not move without 
 witnefling fome new (tageof putrefcense it attained, 
 or breathe without inhaling the putrid effluvia that 
 arofe from it — while myriads of flies and ioathlome 
 infects felted on it, the former of which every now 
 and then viii'.ed me, crawling over my face and 
 hands, and lighting in hundreds on my victuals. 
 I never, look back at this crifis without confuiion, 
 horror, and even ailonifnment ; and, were it not 
 connected with a chain of events preceding and fub- 
 fequent to it, too well known by refpeclible peo- 
 ple to be doubted, and too much interwoven with 
 a part ol the hi (lory of the lad war in India to ad- 
 mit of a doubt, I mould not only be afraid to tell, 
 but abloluieiy doubt mylelf whether the whole was 
 not the iilufion of a dream, rather than credit the 
 pofiibility of my enduring (uch unheard of hard- 
 fhips without lofs of life or deprivation of lenfes. 
 
 At la ft, when the body had reached that (hock- 
 ing Ioathlome ftate of putrefaction which threaten- 
 ed that further delay would render removal abomi- 
 nable, if not impoflible, the mon iters agreed to 
 take it away from me — and 1 was io far relieved ; 
 but the mortification and injury I underwent from 
 it, joined to the agitation of the preceding week, 
 made a vifible inroad on my health. I totally loft 
 my fpIrStS ; my appetite entirely forfook me : my 
 long-nouriihed hopes fled ; and i looked forward 
 to death as the only dciira nt that'was within 
 
 the verge of likelihood or pofliouity. 
 • One day, my oppotite friend (the native prHoner) 
 ie a look of the moll latere (ting and enc 
 kind ; and I perceived a more than ul 
 
 tie ia the citadel, while ths iepoys ijafoiiii»i 
 
33- ACCOUNT OF HYDER ALU. 
 
 me that they were ordered on immediate fervice, 
 and that fome events of great importance had taken 
 place. From this feeble gleam, my mind, natu- 
 rally aftive. though depreffed by circumftances of 
 unufual weight, again took fire, and hope bright- 
 ened with a kind of gloomy light the prof peel: be- 
 fore me : I revolved a thoufand things, and drew 
 from them a thoufand iurmifes ; but ail as yet was 
 only conjecture with me. In a day or two, the 
 buftle increaied to a high pitch, accompanied with 
 marks of confternation : the whole of the troops 
 in the citadel were ordered to march ; and*the 
 corsmandant, and a man with a hammar and inflru- 
 ments, came to take off my irons. 
 
 While they were at work taking off my irons, I 
 perceived they were taking off thofe of the native 
 prifoner oppofite to me alfo. He went away under 
 a guard : we looked at each other complacentlv, 
 nodded and fmlled, ar> who mould lav. M we hope 
 to lee one another in happier times not far diitar.t." 
 But, alas I vain' are human hoDes, and fho;t and 
 dark is the extent of our ufmoli forefight ! This 
 unhappy man, without committing any fort of of- 
 fenfe to merit it, but in conformity to the damna- 
 ble, barbarous polfly of thofe countries, was, by 
 the Jemadar's orders, taken forth, and his throat 
 cut ! This the Jemadar himfelf afterwards acknow- 
 ledged to me — and, what was (till more abominable 
 if po (Tib ley undertook to juftify the proceeding 
 upon the principles of reafon, found fenle, and, 
 precedent of Afiatic policy. 
 
 In order to elucidate the whole of this bufinefs, 
 it is neceiTary for me to recur to events which hap- 
 pened antecedent to this time, but of which, by 
 reafon of my fituation, I was then entirely igno- 
 rant •, and as they involve, not only the grounds 
 of my fubfequent eicape and pioceedingi, but a 
 conhderable portion of hiflorical facl, ana lorr.e of 
 the cutciiai imerefts of the Eaft India Company, 
 
EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 333 
 
 I will be the more particularly careful in relating 
 them, and denre from you a proportionate {hare 
 of attention — But their importance entitle them to 
 a feparate letter : therefore conclude with alluring 
 you, &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER LV, 
 
 H 
 
 -YDER ALLI KHAWN, late Nabob 
 of My fore, and father to the prelent Tippo Sahib 
 Sultain, was as extraordinary a man, and perhaps 
 poffeffed as greit natural talents, as any recorded in 
 the p«ge of hiftory. Born and bred up in the low- 
 eft ranks of an unenlightened and ignorant people, 
 and to the laft day of his life perfectly illiterate, he 
 not only emerged from his native obfeurity by the 
 vigor pf his mind and bodv, but became an object 
 of terror and admiration to iurrounding potentates. 
 E-irly initiated in the habits and inured to the toils 
 of a military life, he role, by the gradual fteps of 
 promotion, 'to a rank which afforded an opportunity 
 of displaying his capacity and prowets : he foon 
 obtained the command of that army in which he 
 had once i'erved as a common foldier, and immedi- 
 ately demonittated that the fublirnity of his mind 
 was formed , to keep pace with his extraordinary 
 elevation. 
 
 The Marhattas, the moft formidable people in 
 Hither India, bordered on the My fores n domin- 
 ions, and kept their neighbours, by frequent hof- 
 tilities, in a continual ftate of awe — making incur- 
 fions on their territories, and taking pofTedion, by 
 force of arms, of large portions of their country : 
 but no fooner had Hyoer got the command of- the 
 armies of his country, than he drove back the Mar- 
 
 4 
 
534 EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 
 i 
 
 hattas from the Mvforean dominions, which he ex- 
 tended by confiderable acquifuions from the Mar- 
 ietta frontiers ; and followed up his conqj^fts with 
 fuch fuccefsful ardour, that he compelled that war- 
 like nation to refpett his countrymen as their equals, 
 if not luperiors, in military achievement. Thus, 
 while he ingratiated himfelf with his lovereign and 
 fellow-citizens by his wildom, he acquired the ad- 
 miration of the foldiery by his perfonal addrefs and 
 valour ; and at the fame time, by the fevctity of 
 his decipline, and the occalional aufterity of his 
 deportmet, maintained an awe over them, which 
 ftrer.gthened his authority with diminifhing their 
 lift ction. 
 
 Hyder was therefore now arrived at that point 
 of elevation, beyond which no exertion of mental 
 capacity, if governed by virtue or integrity, could 
 faiie him — So far he owed all to guenius : but his 
 towering ambition looked higher ; and, ur.reftrain. 
 ed by any principle of religion or morality, he de- 
 termined to accomplifh, at anv rate, that which he 
 knew nothing but crime could accomplifh. With 
 wicked delineation he looked forward into the 
 womb of time, and with unparalleled policy arran- 
 ged the* whole fyftera upon which he was to act, 
 wVen that order of things his penetrating and in- 
 tuitive genius enabled him to lee would naturally 
 ariie from each other, fhould afford him a proper 
 opportunity. Although he was utterly ignorant of 
 books, and of courfe could derive little benefit 
 »*• from the examples of the great and ambitious men 
 recorded in hiftory, yet, drawing upon the infinite 
 refources of his own mind for information, he 
 adopted the very lame means of furthering his 
 views ; and foiefeeing, that, with an immenie ar- 
 my devoted to his interefts, few things would be 
 unattainable, he applied himfelf diligently to model 
 and form that of the King of Mysore to the 
 £i'eateft perfection in diicipline, and to render it 
 
EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 335 
 
 attached to his perfon, and fubfervient to his views, 
 by a (kilful mixture of feverity and relaxation, toil 
 and reward, danger and applaule, which none but 
 a mafter-hand like his was capable of exactly com- 
 pounding. 
 
 The death of his fovereign the King of My- 
 sore at length afforded him the opportunity to 
 which he had lo long, and with fo prophetic an eye, 
 looked forward — and gave him ample room for 
 felf % gratulation on the {core of his lagacity and 
 prudence. 
 
 The heir in fucceflion to the throne being then 
 an infant, the politic Hyder, fetting afide all 
 claims of the kindred of the young prince, took 
 upon himfelf the guardianfhip — under the title of 
 Regent a (Turned the iupreme authority — and, though 
 too well aware of the inviolable attachment of the 
 people to their lawful monarch to put him directly 
 to death, uiurped the throne, and configned him 
 to impriionment in Seringapatam, the capital of 
 the Myiorean dominions. 
 
 Having thus, by his talents, acquired the poflef- 
 fion of the throne, he gave a large range to the lub- 
 limity of his views, and loon difplayedthe exhauft- 
 leis relources of his mind in the new office of Go- 
 vernor and Legiflator — forming fuch vaft well-or- 
 dered military eftabliihments, and fuch judicious 
 and falutary civil inftitutions, as made him blaze 
 forth at once the terror of his neighbours, and ren- 
 dered him, in the fequel, the moll powerful and 
 formidable potentate in the Hither Peninfula. la 
 carrying on thofe, his deficiency in letters was fup- 
 plied by his vigilance and lagacity, fharpened by 
 fufpicioti : three fecretanes executed a^l iris orders 
 in feparate apartments : and if, on companion, 
 they were found to differ, he who committed the 
 error received fentence of death. His natural cru- 
 elty made him take the execution of Uheir fentence 
 upon himielf not unfrequeatly : to nice off a 
 
$$6 EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 
 
 head with his own hand, or fee it done by ethers, 
 I a luxurious recreation to the ianguinary 
 Hyder. 
 
 The natural fagacity of this great man fuggefted, 
 that in order to accompli fh the extenfive objects 
 which his acV've and ambitious temper held up to 
 his imagination, the introdu&ion of the moft per- 
 fect military ditcipline was above all other things 
 neceiTny ; and his judgment informed him that the 
 European was the beft. Heiherefore held oat the 
 mod tempting allurements to military adventures, 
 and pai ticularly lo thoie, whether black or white, 
 o had been trained in the iervice of the Englifh 
 Eaft India company : he fent ennflaries, for the 
 purpoie. to all parts of India, with inftru&ions to 
 ofler great rewards ; and cartied this defign lo far, 
 that whenever accident or war threw perionsof that 
 . tion into his hands, he never failed to detain 
 them, and, if they refuied to enter info I ce, 
 
 treat t; i the moft unpardonable rigour and 
 
 barbarity *. and bv thele means biought hs army to 
 ale of perfection till then unknown to a black 
 power. He d'd not (top there, but determined to 
 eflablifh a . -by large offers allured many fhip- 
 
 carpenfers and artizans fiom Bombay — made no in- 
 con'liderab] ris in conltru&ing dock-yai 
 
 and had aftuaily equiped iome frrps of the line, 
 befideb frigates, fitted to encounei L, lopean leas. 
 Indeed, he feemea to have carried his views of con- 
 queft even to the Polar regions : for it is a faft, 
 that he dire£tea his people, in conftru&ing thofe 
 veffels, to fit them foi :ering leas of ice, or, 
 
 as he called it, the I 
 
 To a man of inch ardent ambition and deep pene-, 
 tration, the vaft power which the Englifh sL. ft In- 
 dia company had acquired, and were daily acq 1 
 ing, in the Eaft, could not fail to be a; 
 jeaioulv. He cue n a deadly and i jie 
 
 anixnofity to the Briuin Nation, which influenced 
 
EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 337 
 
 iiis whole fucceeding life, ended only with his 
 death, and was then tranfmitted to his (on Tip poo 
 Sahib, with the exa&ion of a folemn oath, ever 
 to retain thole fentiments. 
 
 A coincidence of circumftances, which has fet- 
 dom occured in the fortunes of men, tended, at a 
 lucky crifis, to further the bold projects of Hyder ; 
 and neither fortune, though extremely propitious 
 to him, nor his own unbounded talents and ener- 
 getic (pirit, favoured the execution of them, more 
 than the bungling politics, the ludicrous ambition, 
 and the confequent unjuftifiable proceedings, of one 
 of our Presidencies in India — I mean Bombay. 
 Fortunately, the v/ifdom and moderation of our 
 Eaft India councils at this day, vindicate the 
 wounded character of the Britifh nation, and jufli- 
 fy me in the remarks I make. 
 
 An ambitious and profligate chief of the Marhat- 
 ta Tribes — his name Raganaut Row — -had been 
 deputed by the wile men of his country, for having 
 murdered his nephew, in order to uTurp the throne 
 of Setterah. He fled to Bombay, and, by fpecious 
 promiies and othei means, prevailed on that Piefi* 
 dencv to afford nim an afyium, and finally to take 
 up arms in his defence againlt the united Marhatta 
 States, who at the very time were able to raiie an 
 army of three hundred thoufand fighting men, 
 HoltiUiies were firft commenced by the Englifh ; 
 and by them peace was firft propoled. The treaty 
 of Poonah was made, by which it was provided 
 that Raganaut Row would quit Bombay ; and 
 fey the Englilh the provifions ol that tieaty were 
 broken — for. in direct violation of it Raganaut 
 was kept at Bombav. This breacn of the treaty 
 led to another ; for this crafty and unprincipled 
 chief made utc of it wiih luch addrels as to per- 
 iuadc that Prehdency to attack the Marhaltas ag in : 
 —by magnifying the power of his party among hi* 
 euuntiyraen, he prevailed upon tntm once moie 
 
 ¥ i 
 
338 EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 
 
 to affert his rights ; and the Prendency of Calcutta, 
 I am afraid, were induced to join that of Bombay 
 in the plan. 
 
 It happened unfortunately, that at this time the 
 Prefiaency of Bombay was compofed of perions the 
 molt unqual fied , probably, that could be found in 
 any community for offices of fuch importance. 
 One, particularly, was allowed, by the almoft una- 
 nimous conlrnt of thofe who knew his private or 
 public char2&-r, to be ignorant, not only of the 
 firfl principles of government, but of the ordinary 
 knowledge requifite for a gentleman ; and for fuua- 
 tions of moment he was peculiarly difqualified by 
 a fondnefs for minutiae, to which he paid more at- 
 tention than to matters of greater confequence. A 
 temper and intellect of this kind were rendered 
 ftill more incapable of the enlarged views any 
 Reprefentative of a great Nation in a aidant colo- 
 ny fhould poflefs, by a mercantile education and 
 habits, which narrowed even his circumfcribed 
 mind, and left .him not a fentiment, not an idea, 
 that was not merely commercial. The adminifua- 
 tion of fuch men was exactly what might have been 
 expected ; and, inftead of aflerting the dignity of 
 Great Britain, or promoting the advantage of their 
 employers — narrow policv, felhfh views, and ef- 
 forts arifing from miftaken notions of cor.queft, 
 made the whole tiffue of their conduft in India. 
 
 Blinded by the plauhbie infinuations of Raga- 
 naut, and ftimulaied, as I have already oblerved, 
 by a luft foi conquer!, which would have been un- 
 juftifiable even in an hereditary defpot, but which 
 were peculiarly vicious and ridiculous in a body of 
 merchants who were themielves fubjefts, the Eaft 
 Indu company's iervants again determined to iup- 
 port, by force of arms, that moft atrocious mur- 
 deur; and with the contemptibly inadequate force 
 of four thouiand men, encumbered with an un- 
 wielay train of baggage and iervants for the ac- 
 
EAST INDIAN POLITICS. 339 
 
 commodation of finikin voluptuous officers, and 
 led by two doughty compting-houie champions 
 (Carnac and Mostyn), with colonel Egertom 
 as military ajfijlant rather than commander, they 
 fet out, to encounter the whole torrent of the Mar- 
 hatta force, and conduct Ragan.-mjt to Poonah. 
 
 Had Raganaut advanced at the head of his 
 own partizans only, the chiefs of the Marhatta 
 Nation might poiTibly have taken different fides of 
 the queftion, and left between them a breach for 
 his arms or intrigues to make an entrance fatal to 
 the general cauls of the country : but the aflaults 
 of a foreign army — an army of interefted peculat- 
 ing (hangers, as the company's troops then were — 
 an army of avowed natural enemies, profelnng a 
 different religion, entertaining different political 
 principles, and formed by c nature of a different 
 complexion — roufed and united them in one com- 
 mon caufe, and cempreffed difcordant interefts, 
 which had been for time immemorial at irreconcila- 
 ble variance, into one compact body of refiftance, 
 which, as it became more firm from the ffrokes of 
 hoflility, could not, in the nature of things, be 
 fubdued ; in the fame manner as the unjuftifiable 
 confederacy of kings againff France lately united 
 all the conflicting parties of that country — con- 
 verted twenty-feven millions of people, male and 
 female, into one compaft armed force — rendered 
 them not only invincible at home, but terrible 
 abroad — and finally, has enabled them to beflride, 
 CololTus like, the univerfe. 
 
34© AUTHOR DELIVERED 
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 X 
 
 HE approach of the BritiHi troops with 
 Raganaut ciuied great alarm 2t Poonah ; and the 
 minifters there lent to offer terms, wh-ch were con- 
 temptuoufly rejected. They then determined to 
 lave, by prowels, thole lights which they could 
 not pielerve by juftice or negociation — and tock. 
 the field with fuch great force, that their menacing 
 enemies found it expedient to conlider of a retreat. 
 The faithful Raganaut, finding his plans baffled, 
 fent privately ?o Sc india h, the M?rhatta chief, 
 ptopofing to him to attack the Englifh, and pro- 
 mi (ing in that cafe to join him with his part of the 
 army : his perfidy, however, being diicovered, the 
 Englifh commanders began to retreat, carrying hirn 
 along with them. They were, however, fur- 
 rounded, and reduced to make the mod abject con- 
 eeflions — offering a carte-blanchc to Scindiah as 
 the pr.ee of a retreat : but that auguft chief nobly 
 tiifdained to take advantage of their Situation, and 
 contented himielf with terms which juftice fhould 
 haveexiCted from them, even if necefiiiy had not 
 compelled their acceptance. The reiioration of 
 S.iiieite. and of the other conquefts m;;de by the 
 company's troops during the preceding hokihtie^, 
 and the deliveiv of Raganaut's peiion into the 
 hands of the Marhattas, vveie among the provihons. 
 Raganaut was delivered up : two hothges were 
 taken tor the remaining part of the tieaty ; and 
 the hanalied remains of the Englifh army weie per- 
 muted to return to Bombay. 
 
 Raganaut having found means to efcape, reach- 
 ed Sural j and toe company's chiefs rei'ui'ed to copa- 
 
FROxM HIS GUARDS. 341 
 
 ply with the provifions of the treaty: notwith- 
 ftanding which, the noble Marhatta d if mi fled the 
 hoftages, and prepared for a more manly revenge 
 than that which could be wreaked on two defence- 
 lels individuals. General Goddart, who had 
 been Tent with an army from Bengal, was commif- 
 fioned to negociate for a pacification : but Scin- 
 diah making the delivery of Raganaut into his 
 hands an indifpenfable preliminary, the negociation 
 was broken off, and bo'.h parties determined to re- 
 fer the controverfy to the decifion of the fword. 
 
 Every thing feemed to confpire to chaftife the 
 rafhnefs and folly of our Indian councils. The 
 difficulties in which our American conteft had in- 
 volved the nation, were reported with exaggera- 
 tion in India, and gave additional firmnefs to our 
 enemies in that quarter. The refflefs and intrigu- 
 ing fpirit of the court of Versailles found its way 
 with Monfieur St. Lubin to the fhores of Indof- 
 tan, and fo powerfully worked upon the mind of 
 Hyder, that he entered into a treaty with France 
 againft England, and brought the flrength of both 
 into the mod formidable combination that ever was 
 made in that country, to root out the power of 
 Great Britain from the Eaft. 
 
 Thus, by the depraved politics of the councils 
 of a petty fettlement, were the important interefls 
 of Great Briiain in India, and the lives and pro- 
 perties of all its fervants in that quarter, at once 
 expofed to the fury of three formidable hoftile 
 powers — the Marhattas, Hyder and the French. 
 
 I will not entangle my narrative with a detail of 
 the various military operations which arofe from 
 this confederacy : they were in general difalirous 
 to the Engiiih, whofe power there was preferved 
 from utter annihilation by the energetic councils 
 of Mr. Hastings, the unexampled courage of 
 our troops, and the unparalleled abilities and gal- 
 lantry of the veteran Sir Eyr& Coote, That 
 
 F f a 
 
342 AUTHOR DELIVERED 
 
 part which applies to my prefent narrative, is the 
 o.ily part I think it neceffary to detail ; but I wifh 
 you to inform yourlelf of all of them fully, by 
 an attentive peruial of the different hiflories of 
 that war. 
 
 In order to relieve the Carnatic. which was Puf- 
 fer ing under the ravages of a formidable victorious 
 army, who had not only cut off a great Dart of our 
 forces on that coaft, but affronted our army even 
 at the walls of Fort St. George, defcents upon the 
 coafls of Malabar were pbnned, in order to make 
 a diverfion : and General Mathews, in January 
 17&3, landed with a (mall army under his com- 
 mand, at a place called Rajamondroog — took Onore, 
 and leveral forts: and being joined by other troops* 
 which, under the command of Colonel Humeert- 
 son, had done confiderable iervice to the iouth- 
 ward, and were now commanded by Colonel Mac- 
 Leod, matched from Cundapore, with an army 
 conii fling of twelve hundred Europeans and eight 
 battalions of Sepoys, towards Huffaingurry Ghaut ? 
 a pafs (hat leads over thefe immenie mountains- 
 which divide the peninfula, running north and 
 fouth from Peifia to Cape Comorin. After fur- 
 mounting obflacles that would have difcouraged a» 
 lels enterprifing commander, and for which I refer 
 you to his owu letter, inclofed herewith,* he 
 mounted the Ghaut, carrying every thing before 
 him with the fixed bayonet; and reached within 
 a Ihort march of Hydernagur, the place where I 
 was confined. Thole operations were undoubtedly 
 much facilitated by the death of Hyder Alli, 
 which happened while I was in prilon, and which 
 drew the atention of Tippoa Sahib to affairs of 
 more immediate importance than the defence of the 
 Malabar forts. 
 
 I have thus digreffsd from the flraight path of 
 my narrative, in order to explain to yea the occa. 
 * See Appendix. 
 
FROM HIS GUARDS. 343 
 
 &on of the extraordinary revolution that fo fud~ 
 denly took place in the fort, which I Hated to you 
 in my la ft letter but one — You will therefore look 
 back to the con^clufion of that letter, from whence 
 I again take up my narrative, 
 
 I was utterly at a lols to conjecture what this fo 
 fudden relolution to releafe me and my oppofite 
 fellow-prifoner meant. I endeavoured to get lome 
 explanation of it from the perfons about me ; but 
 all I could at the time colletr. was, that the Jema- 
 dar had directed me to- be taken out of irons, and 
 ordered me to appear before-him. I walked out 
 of the citadel with two or three men who had got 
 charge of me :: it was a delightful afternoon ; and 
 my lenfations on once more vituing the open air — • 
 at again viewing the vaft expanle of the firmament 
 above, and the profufion of beauties with which" 
 nature embellifhed the earth beneath — were too 
 blifsful, too (ublime for deicrip.ion. "My heart 
 beat with involuntary tranfpoits of >>ratituue to that 
 Being from which all fprung ; and I felt ihat man 
 is, in his nature, even witnout the intervention 
 of his reaion, a being of devotion. For an hour 
 of luch delight as I then experienced, a year of 
 impriionment was, I thought, hardly too dear a 
 price. Thole exquifite ienlations inlenfibly led 
 my heart to the moll flattering prelages ; the ani- 
 mal {pirit appeared to have, in correiponuence 
 with the bodv, lhaken off a load of chains ; and 
 as I walked along, I leemed to tiead on air. 
 
 As we proceeded forward, we found, at fome 
 diflance from the fort, an open douly, into which 
 the guaids forcibly crammed me ; and I was carried 
 off, hull attended by ihe iame men. As we went 
 along, they gave'me to under/land that Hyat Sa- 
 hib, the Jemadar, was at a place ten or a dozen 
 miles diftant irom Bidanore. 1 thought it within 
 mylelf a mod extraordinary circumitance, and was 
 *t a lofs to conjecture ior what purpofe he required 
 
344 AUTHOR DELIVERED, &c. 
 
 my prefence there. Perhaps, thought I, it is to 
 deliver me perlonally into the hands of Tippoo — 
 perhaps to fend me to Seringapatam. Sufpence 
 whetted my curiofitv ; and impatience to know my 
 fate, let my mind afloat upon a wide fea of conjec- 
 ture. Still, however, my fenles acknowledged a 
 degree of pleafure indefcribable — I inhaled the 
 frefh air with greedinefs, and, as I fnuffed it in, 
 laid to myfelf, " Well, well — at the word, this 
 will enliven my fpirits, and lay up a new ftock of 
 health and vigour, to enable me to endure with 
 manhood whatever other fufferings the barbarians, 
 into whofe hands I have fallen, may have in ftore 
 for me." 
 
 When we had got about a mile from the fort, 
 we met a perlon attended by three others, all on 
 horieback. He was a man of considerable rank in 
 that country, and I recolle&ed to have feen him at 
 the jemadar's Duibar, where he had manifefted>i 
 favourable difpolition towards me, looking always 
 gracioufly, and nodding to me, which, considering 
 my circumftances and his, was not a little extsaor- 
 dinary. The moment he recognized me, he leaped 
 fronvhis horfe, apparently in great agitation : then 
 turning to the guards, ordered them to leave me 
 immediately — faying at the l3me time that he would 
 be anfwerable for the confequences. They ieemed 
 at fir ft to hefitate whether they would obey him 
 or not ; but on his fhaking at them his fword, 
 which was all along drawn in his hand, and fmear- 
 cd with blood, and repeating his" orders a fecond 
 time in a fina and decisive tone of voice and man- 
 ner, they all ran off. 
 
 As foon as we were alone, he revealed to me, 
 that he had all along known who I was — had moft 
 heartily pitied my iufferings, and privately enter- 
 tained the moft anxious wifhes to ferve me, but 
 could not venture to interfere — the ie^ft jealoufy, 
 when ©nee awakened, being there always followed 
 
RETURNS TO THE FORT. 345 
 
 up by fummary vengeance. He then mentioned 
 his name, informing me th athe was the fon of a Na- 
 bob near Vel'.ore, whole dominions had been wrefl- 
 ed from him by force, and united to the Carnatic ; 
 that his family had received great favours from my 
 father, in return for which he felt himielf bound 
 to do me every fervice in his power ; but that, hav- 
 ing been, after the misfortunes which befel his fa- 
 mily, taken into the fervice of Hyder, and hold- 
 ing then a place of consequence under him, he was 
 dilqualified from demonstrating his giatitude and 
 efteem in the way he wifhed ; he added, he had 
 jufl come from the fummit of the Ghauts, where 
 he left the Englifh army potted, aftei their having 
 beat the Circar troops, and carried all the (Irong 
 works which had been erefted for the defence of 
 the paiTes, and were deemed from their fi uaiion 
 impregnable ; that the Jemadar, Hyat Sahib, 
 had gone there to encourage the troops, and ani- 
 mate them to one grand effort of reliance, and 
 would remain there till the lucceeding day — Here 
 he flopped, and leemed much agitated ; but recov- 
 ering himielf loon, laid, in a lolemn and alarming 
 manner, ; * Tnis day I heard Hyat Sahib give or- 
 ders to bring you before him, in orarr that he 
 might fatia.e his revenge by your death ! How 
 happv am I in having an opportunity to relcue you • 
 I will carry you back with me, theiefore, to Biaa- 
 nore, and place you in a itate of iecuruy with my 
 family." 
 
 LETTER LVii. 
 
 S 
 
 r JCH unprecedented generofity affeft- 
 sd me iefeiibly, To run luch a hazard as he muit 
 
34$ 
 
 RETURNS TO THE FORT. 
 
 have incurred, merely from a principle of gratitude 
 for fervices io remote in both time and peilon, wai 
 more than we could hope to find even among En- 
 glishmen, who boafl of their iuperior juftice and 
 gcnercfity — but in a native of Indoftan, where the 
 tide of human feeling runs rather low, was afto- 
 mfning. As well as my limitted knowledge of the 
 lmguage of the country embied me, I endeavoured 
 Io make him a fuiuble acknowledgement : in inch 
 a caufe, dulinefs mud have become eloquent : and I 
 lamented that my deficiency in the language pre- 
 vented my giving vent to the extreme fullnels of 
 my heart. lie ieemed, however, to be fausfied with 
 my meaning ; and i was juft on the point of re- 
 turning with him to Hyaernagur, when we weie 
 luddenly fianled by the Jemadar's munc, which 
 was loon afterwards fucceeded by the appearance 
 of his guards advancing towards us at lome diU 
 tance. He feemed confounded and alarmed — la- 
 mented, in warm terms, his incapacity to ferve me 
 —and, pointed to a path which wound through a 
 wood that lay on either fide of the road, directed 
 me to (Irike into it immediately, faying, that by 
 following that route, I fhould certainly fall in with 
 the Btitifh army. He then rode away, and I fol- 
 lowed his advice, and proceeded for fome time 
 through the wood without interruption ; for, 
 though I did not implicitly believe the affertion 
 that Hyat Sahib meant to have cut me off, I 
 oeemedit prudent io avail myfelf of the opportuni- 
 ty which offered to effect my efcape, apprehending 
 a worfe fate than death, namely, being lent pr. loner 
 to Seringapatam. 
 
 Finding mylelf fairly extricated, I began to exa- 
 mine my fituaiion, and to reflect on the different 
 converiations which had palled between Hyat Sa- 
 hib and me, and on his conduct previous io my 
 being put in irons. I recollected the information 
 1 had from time to time received, touching the 
 
RETURNS TO THE FORT. 347 
 
 Jemadar's diipodtion, Hyder's dexch, Tippoo 
 Sahib's charter and avowed hatred of Hyat, 
 and the nature of the inhabitants. I moreover 
 took into confederation, that m> firtuigth was im- 
 paired, and my conftitution undermined ; and that 
 my profpects in India, in point of fame or emolu- 
 ment, could only be p-omot.d by fome extraordi- 
 nary exertion, or lome hazardous entei ;.riie. The 
 refult of the whole was a detei mination on my part 
 to return back to the fort, and venture an attempt 
 to periuade the Jemadar to offer propofals for an 
 accomodation to General Mathews, and to make 
 me the inftrument of his negociation. 
 
 In pursuance of this determination, I returned ; 
 and about fix o'clock in the evening re-entered the 
 fort, and proceeded to the palace of the Jemadar, 
 where, deft ing an audience, I was admitted. At 
 the very fir ft fight of him, I could perceive in his 
 appearance all the mortification of falling power. 
 He received me with a gloomv countenance, in 
 which there was more of thoughtful fadnefs than 
 of vindictive fury. After a minute's filence, how- 
 ever, he (aid to me, " Well, Sir ! you have heard, 
 I fuppofe, that the Englifh army are in poiTeflion 
 of the Ghauts, and doubtlefs know that the cuf- 
 toms of this country authorife my proceeding againft 
 you with the utmoft rigor." Here he pauled for a 
 few moments — then proceeded thus ; " Neverthe- 
 lefs, in confideration of your family — in confede- 
 ration of the regard I have for a long time conceiv- 
 ed for you. from obfervir.g your condu£f, and ftri£l 
 adherence to truth in aniwering all my queftions, 
 and itill moie on account of the fuffering which 
 you have luftained with fortitude, 1 will allow you 
 to eicape : hafte you, then, away — fly from this 
 fort dire&iy — Begone !" Then waving his hand 
 as a fignai tor me to depart, averted his face from 
 me, ana looked another way. 
 
348 
 
 RETURNS TO THE FORT. 
 
 I thought that this was a very favourable oppor- 
 tunity for my intended purpofe, and entreated him 
 to hear me while 1 laid a few words of perhaps 
 more moment to him than to mvfeif. He again 
 turned towards me ; and, nodding anient, while 
 his eye belpoke impatient curiohty, I proceeded — 
 And, fir ft, 1 exprefled in the ftrongfil terms I was 
 able, the high lenfe I entertained of the favourable 
 reception I met with when I firft came to the fori ; 
 alluring him, that I fhould never forget the; kind- 
 nefs he fhewed me on that occahon, and that in my 
 conscience 1 imputed all the fufreiings I had un- 
 dergone wholly to orders which he had been oblig- 
 ed to execute, and not to any want of humanity in 
 himfelf. Here I. perceived the clouds which had 
 overlpread his countenance begin gradually to dif- 
 pe-rfe, and with the greater confidence proceeded 
 to fay, that if he would condefcend to give me a 
 patient hearing, and not take my boldnels amifs, I 
 would venture to intrude upon him with my ad- 
 vice. At this he flared at me with a look of fur- 
 pnie — paufed — then faid. that he. authonled me to 
 ipeak wha^evct I plealed — continuing, in a tone of 
 gentle melancholy, t; But of what ufe can your 
 advice be to me nov\'?" 
 
 Having thus obtained his permKTion, I began by 
 complimenting him on his great talents and temper 
 in govern irg — on his fidelity, z .it'achment 
 
 to Hvder — and on the mild and benehcient u'.e 
 which he v.as acknowledged to have made of the 
 unbounded power veiled in him by tha f g: eat Prince, 
 which was the more extraordinary, cc nlidering how 
 trany examples he had to jufhfy him in a contiaiy 
 practice. I reminded him, howcvrr, that circum- 
 ilances were at pielent widely diffeicnt from what 
 they were — that he had now got a very different 
 Sovereign to ferve— that he had no longer the ten- 
 der father (for lb Hyder might have been confi- 
 dered to him), but Tip poo Sultan, now the 
 
RETURNS TO THE FORT. 349 
 
 Mailer, once the rival, whofe meafures he had al- 
 ways oppofed, againfl whom he had once laid a 
 mofk ierous charge, and who, confidcring the 
 firmnels of his nature, coiild not be realonably iup- 
 poied to have forgiven him ; and 1 hinted, that 
 whatever external appearance of regard Tippoo 
 might from the political neceffity of the moment 
 aflame, his temper, and the ipirit of Afiatic policy, 
 were too well known to have a doubt remaining, 
 that 10 far from continuing him (Hyat) in the fame 
 power and authority which he enjoyed during the 
 life of his father Hyder, he would, on the con- 
 trary, proceed againft him with rigor and cruelty. 
 
 Here I perceived (he Jemadar involuntary nod- 
 ding his head in a manner which, though not in- 
 tended foi my obie - . vation, denoted internal aflent ; 
 and was convinced that I had exacily fallen in with 
 the current of his own thoughts. No wonder, 
 indeed, they fhould be his fentiments ; for they 
 had long been the fentiments of ail perfons who 
 had known the circumftances of the Nabob's fa- 
 mily. 
 
 Hiving, therefore, gone as far on that point as I 
 conceived to be ncceflary to awaken the mind of 
 Hyat to the precanoufnefs, or rather danger of his 
 filuation with Tippoo, I painted to him, in the 
 ftiongefl colours I was nutter of, the humanity, 
 the fidelity, the bravery and generofity of the £n- 
 glifh, which, 1 faid, were (o univerfaliy acknow- 
 ledged, thai even their word enemies bore tefli- 
 mony to them.: and I allured him, that if, in (lead 
 of miking an unavailing oppofuion to them, he 
 would throw himfelf with confidence upon their 
 proucton, and become their friend, he would not 
 only be continued in his flat ion, power and autho- 
 rity, and lupported as heretofore, but be made a 
 much greater man, with flill greater iecuritVf thaa 
 ever he had been before. 
 
 ©1 
 
£5A RETURNS TO THE FORT. 
 
 This was the genera! fcope of my argument with 
 him ; but there were many more which fuggefted 
 themfelves at the time, though I cannot now re- 
 member them. I enforced them with al! the pow- 
 er I had : they were fupported by the acknow- 
 ledged character for generofity of the Englifh, and 
 ilili more by Hyat's apprehenfions of Tippoo ; 
 and they had their effect. That very night he au- 
 thoriied me to go to the Britifh General ; and, 
 though he would not commit himfelf by fending 
 propofals in writing, he confented to receive them 
 from the General, and pron.iled to wait for my re- 
 turn till day-light the next morning — adding, that 
 if I did not appear by that time, be would go off 
 with his family and uealure to fome other place, 
 and fet the town, powder-magazine and ftore-hou- 
 fes on fire, leaving a per ion of diftingnifhed cha- 
 racter to defend the citadel or inner fort, which 
 was firong, with a cieep diich, and mounted with 
 many pieces of cannon, and lend immedia e intel- 
 ligence to an army of fix thouiar.d hoife and ten 
 thouiand infantry, who were at that time on their 
 road from Seringapatam, to haflen their progrefs, 
 and m-dke them advance with ali pofiible rapidity ; 
 and he further ohferved, that as Tippoo himieif 
 would come to the immediate protection of his 
 country, and, if once come while the Englifh ar- 
 my remained in the open field, would give them 
 cauie to repent their temerity, there was no time 
 to be loft. 
 
 Accompanied by a perfon who had officiated as 
 interpreter between the Jemadar and me, and 
 whole good offices and influence with Hyat, 
 which was very great, I had been previoufly lucky 
 enough to fecure, I fet off at ten o'clock at night, 
 on horieback to the Britifn army. My companion 
 was in high fpirits when we firft fet out from the 
 fort ; but as we proceeded, he exprefied great ap- 
 piehenfion of being (hot in approaching the camp, 
 
GENERAL MATHEWS', &c. 3J t 
 
 ind earneftly entreated me to ftccp at a c'-»oreltry» 
 which lay in our way, till morning. His ten of 
 mult have been great indeed, to induce him to 
 make iuch a propoftl, as he knew very well that 
 we had pledged ourfelvcs to be back before dawn 
 next day. I rallied hi:n upon his fears, and en- 
 deavoured to perluade him there was not the fmdl- 
 ett danger, as I knew how to anlwer the out polls, 
 •when they ihould challenge us, in luch a manner 
 a> to prevent their Bring. As we advanced to 
 the cani'j, however, his trepidation increaled ; and 
 when we approached the leotriea, I was obliged to 
 dreg him along by force. Then his fears had very 
 nearly produced the danger he dreaded, (ihe aimqfV 
 invariable effeft of cowardice) ; for the lentry next 
 to us, hearing the ruftling noife, let off his piece, 
 and was retreating when I had the good fortune to 
 make him hear me. My companion, alarmed at 
 the noife of the mufcjuet, fell down in a paroxyfm 
 of terror, from which it was feme time before he 
 was completely recovered. The lentry who had 
 fired, coming up, conducted us to a place wher§ 
 ether (entries were ported, one of whom accompa- 
 nied us to a guard, from whence we were brought 
 to the grand guard, and by them coaducbd to the 
 General, 
 
 LETTER LVIII. 
 
 I 
 
 WAS no lefs pleafed than furprifed to 
 find, that the commander of this gallant and fuc- 
 celbful little army was General Mathews — an old 
 fnend of my father's, and a perfon with whom I 
 had ferved in the cavalry loon after I entered the 
 fervice. When I arrived he was faft ailcep upon 
 
352 GENERAL MATHEWS' 
 
 the bare ground in a choreltrv. His dubafh. whi 
 name was Snake, recollected me immediately, and 
 was almofl as much frightened at my appearance ft 
 fnft, as my interpreter companion was at the fhot 
 of the (entry ; for it was full five months fince my 
 hair and beard were both fhaved at the fame time, 
 during which period a comb had never touched my 
 head : I had no hat — no flocking? — was ciad in a 
 pair of very ragged breeches, a fhut which was fo 
 lull of holes that it refembled rather a net than a 
 web of cloth, and a waiftcoat which had been made 
 for a man twice my fize — while my feet were de- 
 fended from the flones only by a pair of Indian 
 flippers. Snare, as foon as he was able to con* 
 quer his terror, and flop thft loquacious efTufions of 
 iftonifhment, brought me to the General, whom I 
 found fad afleep. We awoke him with great dif- 
 ficulty, and, on his difcovqring me. expreifed great 
 pleafure and furprife at fo unexpected a meeting; 
 for, though he had heard of my imprifonment at 
 Bidanore, he did not expect to have had the plea- 
 lure of my company i'o loon. 
 
 Having ftated to the General the naHirc and ob- 
 ject of my million, and related to him what had 
 happened in the fort, he inflantly faw the great 
 advantages that mufl accrue fiom iuch an arrange- 
 ment — entered into a full bu*. fhort difcuffion of 
 the bufinefs — fettled with ms the plan to be pur- 
 fued in either ca(e of IIyat Sahib's acced'rng to 
 or d ideating from the terms he propofed to offer ; 
 and in lefs than an hour after my arrival, I was dif- 
 patched b.ick to tne fort in the General's palan- 
 quin, with a cowl from him, fignifying that the 
 Jemadar Hyat Sahib's power and influence 
 fhould not be lelfened, if he fhould quietly fur- 
 render up the fort. Before my departure, the 
 Geneial expreiled, in the warmeil terms, his ap- 
 probation of mv conduct; and added tha' confi< 
 ing the importance of the fort, the cxieuiive in-- 
 
VINDICATION. SS3 
 
 ftuance of Hyat Sahib, and the advantages that 
 might be derived from his experience and abilities, 
 coupled with the enfeebled {late of .his army, the 
 benefits of fuch a negociation fcarcely admitted of 
 calculation. 
 
 Not with (landing the very flattering circumflan- 
 ces with which my preient purluit was attended, I 
 could not help, as I returned to Hydernagur, find- 
 ing lorne uneaiy ieniations, arifing from the imme- 
 diate nature of the bufinefs, and from my know- 
 ledge of the faithlefs difpofition of Afiatics, and 
 the little difficulty they find in violating any moral 
 principle, if it happens to clalh with their intereft, 
 or if a breach of it promiies any advantage. I con- 
 sidered that it was by no means impoflible, that fome 
 refolution adverfe to my project might have been 
 adopted in my ablence, and that the Jemadar's 
 policy might lead him to make my deilrutlion a 
 fort of propitiation for his former offences, and to 
 fend me and the cowl together to Tippoo, to b«a 
 iucrificed to his relentment. Thefe thoughts, I 
 own, made a very deep imprefiion on my mind- 
 but were again effaced by the reflection, that a laud- 
 able mealure, once begun, ought to be oerfevered 
 in, and that the accompli lhing a plan of fuch im- 
 portance and incalculable public utility, might 
 operate dill fuither by example, and produce con- 
 lequences of which it was impoflible at pre'ent to 
 form a conception. Thole, and a variety of fuch 
 luggetlions, entirely overcame the icruples and 
 fears of the danger ; and I ouce more entered the 
 fort of Hydernagur. At this lime the Britifh 
 troops were, by detaching a part with Colonel 
 Macleod, to get round the fort, and attack it in 
 the rear, and, by death and iicknefs, reduced to 
 lefs than four hundred Europeans and fovea hun- 
 dred Sepoys, without ordnance. 
 
 W Ken I delivered the cowl to the Jemadar, he 
 read it, and ieemed pleated, but talked of lour or 
 
 G g 2 
 
354 GENERAL MATHEWS* 
 
 five days to confider of an »nfwer, and Teemed to 
 be wavering in his mind, and labouring under the 
 alternate impulfes ef oppofitc motives and contra- 
 dictory paflioRS. I faw that it was a crifis of more 
 importance than any other of my life — a crifis in 
 which delay, irrefolution, or yielding to the pro- 
 tractive expedients of Hyat, might be fatal. To 
 prevent, therefore, the effects of cither treachery 
 or repentance, I took, advantage of the general 
 confufion and trepidation which prevailed in the 
 fort — collected the Arcot Sepoys, who, to the 
 number of four hundred, were prifoners at large— 
 polled them at the gates, powder-magazines, and 
 other critical fituations ; and, having taken thefe 
 and other precautions, went out to the General, 
 who. according to the plan conceried between us, 
 had pufhed on with the advanced guara ; and, con- 
 ducting him into the fort with hardly an attendant, 
 brought him itraight to the Jemadar's prclencc 
 while he vet remained in a ftate of indecifion and 
 terror. General Mathews, in his fii ft interview 
 with the Jemadar, did every thing to re-afhire him, 
 and confirmed with the mod iolemn affeverations 
 the terms of the cowl ; in con'.cquence of which 
 the latter acceded to the proportions conta ; ned in 
 it, and the Bntifh colours for the full time waved 
 upon the walls of the chief foit of the country of 
 Jiidanore. 
 
 Having thus contributed to put this important 
 garrifon, with all its treafures, which certainly 
 were immense, into the hands of the Company, 
 without the lofs of a fingle man, or even the ilrik- 
 ing of a fingle blow, my exultation was incon- 
 ceivable ; anj, much though I wanted money, I 
 can will) truth aver, that avarice had not even for 
 an inftant the lead fhare in my fen fat ions. * Tis 
 true, the cor. ciou!ncis of my fer vices allured me 
 of a reward ; but haw that reward was to accrue 
 
 me,* never once Was the fubj?£t of xny content? 
 
VINDICATION. 2>SS 
 
 plation — much lefs did I think of availing myfelf 
 of the inftant occafion to obtain it. How far my 
 deiicacy on the occafion may be cenfured or appro- 
 ved, I cannot tell ; but if I got nothing by it, I 
 have at lcaft the confolation to reflet that I el«apcd 
 calumny, which was with a mod unjuftifrable and 
 unfparing hand lavifhedon others. The Geneial, 
 it is true, promifed that I mould remain with h".ru 
 till he made fome arrangements ; and Hyat Sa- 
 hib offered, on his part, to make me, through 
 the General, a handfome prefenr. The General, 
 however, fuddenly became diffutisned with me \ 
 and I neither got Hyat Sahib's prelent, nor ever 
 received even a rupee of tne van: fpoil found- 
 tliere. 
 
 Here I think it a duty incumbent on me to fay 
 fomething of General Mathews, and, while I de- 
 plore the unfortunate turn in his temper, which* 
 iniured me, and tarnifhed in tome mealure his good 
 qualities, to refcue him from that unremitted oblo- 
 quy which the ignoran:, the interefted and the en- 
 vious have thrown upon his fame. Light iie the 
 afhes of the dead, and hallowed be the turf that 
 pillows the head of a ioldier.! General Mathews 
 was indeed a loldier— was calumniated too ; and 
 although he did' not uie me as 1 had reafen to hope 
 he would, I will, as far as I can, relcue his fame 
 from grois mifreprefeutation. 
 
 An extravagant love of fame was the ruling 
 paiTion cf General Mathews : it was the great 
 end of all his purluits ; and while, in his military 
 profeiTion, he walked with a firm pace towards it, 
 he loft his time, diftoited his piogre:S, and palfied 
 his own efforts, by a jealous vigilance and envious 
 opposition of thoie whom he found taking the iame 
 road, whether they walked bclide him, or panted 
 in feeble effort behind. This was his fault ; it 
 was doubtiefs a great alloy »to his good qualities : 
 but it has been pumihed with rigour diiprouortion- 
 
356 GENERAL MATHEWS', &c. 
 
 ate lo the offence. Thofe who perfon?Hy felt his. 
 joalouly, look advantage of his melancholy end to 
 traduce hitn, and magnify every mole-hill of error 
 into a mountain of enme. It is unmanly in anv 
 one — indeed it is — H.Q traduce the foldter who has 
 fallen in the lervice of his country ; but it is heie- 
 fy in a ioldier to do lo. No fooner did the buzs 
 of calumny get abroad, than thoufands of hornets, 
 who had neuher in te re ft nor concern in the affair, 
 joined in it. The malignant, who wifhed to ffeitftg 
 meiely to get rid of lo much of their venom— and 
 the vain, who wifhed to acquire a reputation for 
 knowledge of Afialic affairs at the exoence of truth 
 — united together, and railed a hum winch reach- 
 ed Europe, where the hornets (I mean authors), 
 under the lefs unjutlsriable impuife of neceffny, 
 took it up, and buzzed through the medium of 
 quartos and octavos lo loud, that public opinion was 
 poiioned ; and the gallant Ioldier who, for the ad- 
 vantage of England, llood the hardeft tugs of war, 
 and at hit drank the poiioned cup from the tyrant 
 hands of her enemy, was generally under flood to 
 be^a peculator, and to have clandeftinely and dif- 
 honetUy obtained three hundred thoufar.d pounds. 
 
 On this afiertion 1 put my direcr, negative. It 
 may be laid, however, that thib is only alien ion 
 againft affcrtion — True ! Sorry fhould 1 be to reft 
 it there : my afiertions are grounded on iuch proofs 
 as are not to be fnaken — proofs on record in the 
 oiiice of the Preliaency of Bombay. 
 
 As fcon as Hydernagur was taken poffefiion of, 
 Kyat Sahib immediately ifiued orders to the fotts 
 of Aiangaiore, Deukull, Ananpore, and fome others 
 in that country, to furrender to the Bntilh arms. 
 S^rne obeyed the mandate ; but tbofe three refilled, 
 and were reduced by General Mathews. Ren- 
 dered incautious by fuccels, our aimy became iels 
 yigilaot, and Tiproo retook Hydernagur; and, 
 in diuct breach of the capitulation, made the gar- 
 
SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 357 
 
 •j-iion prifoners, treated them with a degree of in- 
 humanity which chills the blood even to think of, 
 and forced General Mathews to take poifon in 
 prifon ! 
 
 . Mean-time Hyat Sahib, with whom the Ge- 
 neral had got into dii'putes, arrived at Bombay, and 
 laid a charge againft him, which he, being in the 
 hands of Tippoo, could not controvert, or even 
 know. And what was the charge ? The whole 
 extent of it was his (Mathews's) having got two 
 lacks of rupees, and a pearl necklace, as a prelect 
 — a fum, confidering. the country and circumftan- 
 ftances, not at all extraordinary, but which is com- 
 pletely vindicated by the General's letter to the 
 Court of D.re£tors, dated at Mangalore, the 15th 
 ef March, 1783; in which he ftates the prelenr, 
 and requefts permiflion to accept it. This, as 1 
 laid before, is on record, and was tranflated by Mr. 
 Sybbald, who was then Perfian interpreter at 
 Bombay. The letter I allude to, you will fee in 
 the Appendix. In fhort, General Mathews 
 had his faults, but an unjuft avarice was not a- 
 mongft them. 
 
 LETTER LIX. 
 
 I~L 
 
 .AVING. in my laft letter, faid as much 
 as 1 thougn.t juft'cc demanded in defence of Gen- 
 eral Mathews, againft the charge of peculation, I 
 am now to ipeak of him as his conduct, touched me. 
 He was, as I have already meuiioned, an old friend 
 of my father's, and an intimate of my own : I had 
 reafon, therefore, to expect from him, according 
 to the ufuai dilpofitions and manners of men, if nor 
 partiality, at lea ft fnendlhip ; and in i'uch a cafe as 
 
353 
 
 SZTS OFF FOR BENGAL. 
 
 I have related, where my fervices gave rne a chin* 
 to nonce, it was not unres (enable to fuppofe that 
 he would have been forward to promote my inter- 
 eft, by dating my fervices in !uch a manner as 'o 
 call attention to them. Ho had. however, foine d 
 greeable chicufhons with his officers : and feeing I 
 was on a footing with Colonel Humberts ox. and 
 1 marc with Major Campbell ^he who lo ab'y 
 and gallantly defended Matrsalore aoainft Ti p poo's 
 whole aimv and iix hundred French), and finding 
 me extremely ze:-.:ous ana importunate to have hvs 
 arrangement with Hyat Sahib adhered to, he be- 
 came dlipicafed, and. though he himfeif had deter- 
 mined th3t I fnould regain wuh him. changed his 
 :..:nd, and ordered me away at an hour's notice — 
 many days fooner than he had originally intended 
 to fend off any difpatches. He moreover oecafion- 
 ed my loiing a ium of mon«v, and on the whole 
 paid iefs attention to my intereft than the ciicum- 
 ilances of the cafe demanded. 
 
 In the evening of the day on which he determt- 
 ned on my departure, I let eff with his dilpa-tches 
 lo the governments of Madrais and Bengal, and 
 reached the moil diftant of our polls that night. 
 From thence I had thirty miles to Cundapore, a fea- 
 port town upon the Malabar coafi, taken by us from 
 the enemy. During this journey, which was 
 through the country of Tippoo Sahib, I had on- 
 ly iix Sepoys to conduct me : yet, iuch was the 
 universal ranic that had ieized all cUfles and dif- 
 ;ii elious of people at the progrefs of the Briiifh 
 arms in that quarter, 1 met only a few fcatte red 
 Sepoys who were lb bauly wounded I p relume 
 they were unable to travel — the villages through- 
 out being completely abanaoned by all their mha- 
 bi'ans. 
 
 The fudden change of diet, which phyficians tell 
 us, ana I experienced, «s dangerous, from bad to 
 joodj as well as ihe reverie, conipmng with the 
 
SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 359 
 
 -mortification I felt at leeing things going on To ve- 
 ry contrary to what I vvifhed, and what I had reifort 
 to expect, had a mod fudden and alarming effect 
 upon my conftitution ; and I was Jcizid on the 
 road with the mod excrutiating, internal pains, 
 which were {ucceeded by a violent vomiting of 
 blood. At length, with great difficulty, I reached 
 Cundapore, where the commanding officer, and all 
 about him did every thing in their power to afford 
 me afiiftance and comfort under mv mileries, which 
 :ncreaied every hour rapidly. I felt as if my infide 
 was utterly decayed, "and all its functions loft in de- 
 bility : at the fame time my head ieemed deranged 
 — I could fcarcely comprehend the meaning of 
 what was faid ; lifting up my head was attended 
 with agonizing pain ; and if I had any power of 
 thought, it was to confider myfelf as appro ching 
 fall to dilTolution. I had the fenfe, however, 
 to fend to General Mathews, to aco amt him 
 with my indiipolition, and utter inability to pro- 
 pvoceed with his diipatches. To this I received 
 die following letter : 
 
 11 Bidanorc, Feb. 3, 1783. 
 
 *• Dear Campbell, 
 
 M I am lorry to hear that you have beer, unwell. 
 * { Should your indiipofnion increaie, or continue, 
 <; lo as to render you unable to purlue your jour- 
 U ney with the neceflary expedition, I beg that 
 " you will forward the letters to Anjengo by a 
 " boat, with directions to Mr. Hutch in son to 
 " fend them per tappy* to rVlamcouh, and io on 
 t; to Madras. 
 
 " I fliali hope to hear of your recovery, and that 
 tc you'll h?ve gone to fea. 
 
 i; Your's very truly, 
 
 * s Richard Mathews.'* 
 
 * PoJl, or cxprefs. 
 
£&* 
 
 SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 
 
 The receipt of this letter induced me, bad as I 
 was, to make one other exertion ; and I reiolved, 
 though I fhould die on the way, not to leave any 
 thing which, even by malicious conflruclion, could 
 be made a fet-off againfl my claims : I therefore 
 hired an open boat to cany me aiong the coafl to 
 Anjengo, and let out with every profpe£l of hav- 
 ing the virulence of my diiorder increafed, by be- 
 ing expoled in an uncovered vefl'ei to the camp of 
 the night air, and the raging heat of the fun m the 
 day, and of being arretted by the hand of death in 
 my way. By the time I hao got down the coafl as 
 far as Mangalore, my ccmplaints increafed to an 
 alarming height ; and 1 became fpeechleis, and un- 
 able to Hand. Fortunately there happened to be a 
 Company's veiTel then lying at anchor off that 
 place, the captain of which had the goodneis to in- 
 vite me to remain on board with him, flrenuoufiy 
 advifing that I fhould gve up the thonghts of pio- 
 ceedmg immediately on my voyage to Anjengo, 
 which I could not pefiibly furvive, and to forward 
 mv difpatchcs by another hand. The lurgeon of 
 tbc fliip joining the captain in opinion that I could 
 not furvive if I attempted it, and my own judg- 
 ment coinciding with t heir's, I at length conten- 
 ted, -and remained there. 
 
 Tranquility, kind treatment, and good medical 
 afti fiance, produced, in the fp-.ce of two or three 
 weeks, (o material a change in my health, I was in 
 a condition to avail myleif. at the expiration ot 
 that time, of a fhip bound to Anjengn, and which 
 ofTeiingthe additional inducement of touching at 
 Tellicherry, de'.eimined me to take my paffage in 
 her. When I arrived at Tellicherry, and during 
 my flay there, tne great attention (hewn me by 
 Mr. Freeman, the chief of that place, and the 
 comforts of'his houie, refiored me to a great (hare 
 of health and (pirits — And here a very fingidar cir. 
 cumflance occurred. 
 
•SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 36! 
 
 Cue day a veffel arrived ; and perceiving a boat 
 •coming on fhore from her, Mr. Freeman and I 
 Walked down to the beach, to make the ufual in- 
 quiries — fuch as, where (he came from ? what 
 news fhe brought? &c. &<:, As foon as the boat 
 touched the fhore, a gentleman leaped out of it, 
 whofe perfon feemed familiar to me : upon his 
 nearer approach, I discovered that it was Mr. 
 Brodey, a gentleman who had been kind enough 
 to take upon him the office of my attorney, upon 
 my leaving India fome years before— not my attor- 
 ney in the ordinary acceptation of that word, but a 
 liberal and difi mere fled friend, who obligingly un- 
 dertook the management of my affairs in my ab- 
 fence, without the (mailed hope of advantage, or 
 rather under circum fiances which ferved as pre- 
 ludes to further obligations. I was certainly pleafed 
 and iurprifed to fee him ; but his aftonifhment to 
 fee me amounted almoft to a diftruit, of his eye- 
 fight : he had received fuch indubitable proofs of 
 my death, that my fudden appearance on his land- 
 ing, at the firft rufh of thought, impreffed him 
 with the notion of a dtctptio vifus. My identity, 
 however, was too pofitive for refiftance ; and his 
 wonder melted down into cordial fatisfa&ion, and 
 congratulations on my fafety. Pie then took out a 
 pocket account-book, in which, for fecurity againffc 
 accidents, he kept accounts-current, written in a 
 brief manner — and (hewed me mine, fettled al- 
 moft to the very day, upon which was tranferibed 
 a copy of a letter he had received, and which he 
 thought was a teilimony of my death. So, cutting 
 out the account, and prefenting it to me, he ex- 
 preffed, in the moil cordial and handfome manner, 
 his joy that it was into my own hands he had at laft 
 had an opportunity to deliver it. Tft's gentleman 
 is now in this Kingdom, and teo well known for 
 me to defcribe him. Suffice it to lay, that in En- 
 gland, as well as in India, he has always enjoyed 
 
 H h 
 
362 SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 
 
 the efteem and refpeft of all his acquaintances, to 
 as great an extent as any other perfon I know. 
 
 I again embarked to proceed on my voyage, and 
 had hardly got on board when a fhip dropped an- 
 chor along fide of us, in which captain Campbell 
 of Comby, a very near connection of mine, was 
 pafTenger. On hailing one another, he heard that 
 \ was on board, and immediteiy was with me. 
 Thofe who fincerely love each other, and whole 
 hearts confefs the fond ties of confanguinity, can 
 alone conceive what our mutual pleafure was at 
 meeting fo unexpectedly in fo remote a corner of 
 the world. He was then on his way to join the 
 army. This amiable young man, now repofes in 
 the bed of honour at Mangalore ! He fell, after 
 having diftinguiihed himfelf in the very gallant 
 defence made by that place againft the whole force 
 of Tip poo. With regret we parted : and in due 
 time I arrived at Anjengo without any accident 
 befalling me, which was rather extraordinary. 
 
 Leaving Anjengo, I fet out for Madras, delign- 
 ing to go all the way by land — a journey of near 
 eight hundred miles. I accordingly flruck through 
 the Kingdom of Travancore, whofe fovereign is 
 in alliance with the Engliih ; and had not long 
 enteied the territories of the Nabob of Arcot, be- 
 fore Major Macneal, an old friend of mine, 
 and commandant of a fort in that diftrift, met me 
 preceded by a troop of dancing girls, who encir- 
 cled any palanquin, dancing around rne until I 
 entered the Major's houfe. 
 
 It would be difficult to give you an adequate 
 notion of thofe dancing girls. Trained up from 
 their infancy to the practice of the molt graceful 
 motions, the mod artful difplay of perfonai fym- 
 metry, and the mod wanton allurements, they 
 dance in fuch a ftyle, and twine their limbs and 
 bodies into fuch poflures. as bewitch the fenles, 
 and extort applaufe and admiration where in ftrift- 
 
SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. <x6x 
 
 
 nefs difapprobation is due : nor is their agility in- 
 ferior to the grace of their movements— though 
 they do not exert it in the fame {kipping way that 
 our ltage dancers do, but make it iubiervient to 
 the elegance, and, I may fay, grandeur, of their 
 air. They are generally found in troops of fix or 
 eight, attended by muucians, whofe aipecr. and 
 drefs are as uncouth and fqualid, as the founds they 
 produce under the name of mufic, are inelegant, 
 harfh and diffbnant. To this mufic, from which 
 mealure as much as harmony is excluded, rhey 
 d»nce, mod wonderfully adapting their dep to the 
 perpe-ual change of the time, accompanying it 
 with amorous fongs, while the correiponUeru aftion 
 of their body and limbs, the wanton palpitation 
 and heaving of their ex qui fuel y formed bofoms, 
 and the amorous, or rather lalcivious expreffion of 
 their countenance, excite in the fpe&ators emotions 
 not very favourable to chadity. Thus they con- 
 tinue. to aft, till, by the warmth of exercife and 
 imagination, they become feemingly frantic with 
 ecdacy, and, finking down motionleis with fatigue, 
 throw thermfelves into the mod alluring attitudes 
 that ingenious vice and voluptuoufnefs can pofhbly 
 deviie. 
 
 That fuch incitements to vice fhould make a 
 part of the fyilem of any fociety, is to be lament- 
 ed : yet, at all ceremonies and great occalions, whe- 
 ther of religious worfhip or domeflic enjoyment, 
 they make a part of the entertainment ; and the 
 altar of their gods, and the purity of the marriage 
 riies, are alike polluted by the introduction of the 
 dancing girls. The impurity of this cultom, how- 
 ever, vanifhes in India, when compared with th» 
 hideous practice of introducing dancing boys. 
 
 The Major, after having entertained me, in the 
 mod holpitable manner, accompanied me to Palam- 
 cotah, to the houfe of D.cior Dorr, who lived 
 in a generous and hofpitable,^yle. I had once had 
 
3^4 SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 
 
 an opportunity of evincing my good difpofition t* 
 this gentleman, when he was moft ctitieally fuu- 
 ated ; and the reception he gave me demonftrated, 
 that he than retained a lively fenfe of my conduct 
 •o him. 
 
 Leaving Palamcotah, I continued my route thro' 
 Madura. This country is rendered remarkable by 
 the revolt of the famous Is if Ca-wn, who made a 
 bold and well-conducted attempt to ereft himielf 
 into the foveieignty of that province, independent 
 ef the Nabob of the Carnatic, in whofe fervice he 
 was : and as the affair occurs to my thoughts, I 
 will, for your information, notwithftanding its 
 being unconnected with my ftory, digrefs into an 
 account of it. As foon as the revolt of Im 
 Cawn was known, General Mo n son, an officer 
 of great military (kill and perfonal merit, went 
 agair.fl him at the head of the King's and com- 
 pany's troops, and in veiled the fort of Madura, 
 in which that rebellious chief was poftcd. The 
 general made a practicable breach, and, in fiorm- 
 ing, was beat back with great {laughter by I sip ; 
 and the fetting in of the monfoons immediately 
 after, retarded the further operations of our army 
 ag3in(l the place; and in the interim, peace hav- 
 ing been concluded between the courts of St. 
 James's and Verfailles, the King's troops were 
 withdrawn. 
 
 On the recall of the King's troops, an army of 
 company's troops was formed, to proceed again ft 
 Madura, in order to reduce this gallant turbulent 
 rebel to fubje&ion ; and the renowned general 
 Lawrence being rendered incapable of aftual 
 fervice, and obliged to remain at the prefidency by 
 extreme age and infirmity, the chief command de- 
 volved upon my father by feniority : he headed the 
 expedition ; and, after overcoming innumerable 
 difficulties thrown in his way by the inventive 
 genius, and enterprifing (Wit of Is if Cawn, again 
 
SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. $65 
 
 made a breach, which was deemed practicable by 
 the chief engineer, now Sir John Call. An 
 affault was made with no better luccels than the 
 former; for our army was> again repul : ed with in- 
 credible Gaughtei : more than two thirds, I believe, 
 of our European officers, were among the killed 
 6r Wounded; md the death o M joi Pristom, 
 f cond in command, a man endeared 10 the .ay 
 by the poffeffion of every advantage of perfbn, 
 heart and '^ients— — an aftive, intrepid and a:4e offt- 
 Cer— aggravated the calami; ies of the day. 
 
 It, impelled bv my feelings, or temped by re- 
 membrance of the paft. 1 fonrjetimes digrtefs front 
 the direft path of my narrative; my Frederick 
 will accompany rae, not only with patience, but I 
 dare uy With pieaiure : I cannot refrain, therefore, 
 from mentioning a memorable occurrence during 
 that fiege, not only as it is lomewhat extraordinary 
 in ftielr, but as it relates to a very near and dear 
 Cohnt ftion. Colonel Donald Campbell, who 
 then commanded the cavalry, received no less than 
 fourteen lword-wounds and a mulquet-ball in his 
 b >cy — yet continued aomg iv.s duty with iuch cool 
 intrepidity, that brave ioloiers who were witneil.i 
 to it, exprefl^d the utmolt afloniihm-nt : upon be- 
 in^ icquelted to quit the held, he replied, thai as 
 his family weie provided for, he had nothing to 
 fear ; and as it was very unlikely his life could be 
 laved, he would net deprive his country of any 
 advantage that might be derived from his exertions 
 for the fhort refidue of it, but continue to the lad 
 moment at his duty. With all this hrmnefs and 
 magnanimity . he was gentle, good- humoured, mo- 
 de ft and unauuming ; and was admired for his great 
 perional beauty, as weli as militaiy talents, particu- 
 larly by the Duke oi Cumberland, under whom 
 be ieived in the war in Germany as a fuballern 
 officer, in fo much that his Royal Highnefs had his 
 picture drawn. It was toJiim the company were 
 
 H h" 
 
3 66 
 
 SETS OFF FO* BENGAL, 
 
 firft indebted for the introduction of perfect mili- 
 tary difcipline iruo their army in India. In the 
 various relations in which he flood, whether do- 
 meftic or public, as the fubject, the citizen, the 
 father, or the friend, he was fo uniformly excel- 
 lent, that the fhafts of malevolence, which the befk 
 and wife ft of men have but toe often felt, feldora 
 reached him ; and he may juflly be reckoned 
 amongft that very fmall number of created beings, 
 of whom Icarcely any one had the audacity to fpeak 
 ill. Upon my firft arrival in India, 1 was put un- 
 der his command, and lived in his family — when, 
 inftead of deporting himfelf towards me with that 
 referve and aufterity which rank, and reputation 
 like his, coupled with the circumftance of his be- 
 ing my uncle, might in fome fort have juftified, he 
 tcok me into his confidence, treated me with the 
 greateft affection, and afted rather as. the brother 
 and the equal, than as the parent and fuperior ; and. 
 thus his gentle admonitions had more effect in re- 
 flraining the Tallies of youth, and impetuofuy of 
 my temper, than the four, unpalatable documents 
 of a lupercilious preceptor could poilibly have 
 had. 
 
 The wonderful effe&s of this happy temper in 
 fwaying the ftubborn difpofition of headflrong 
 youth, was exemplified in another inftance — of 
 which, fmce I am on the iubje6t, I will infoinn 
 you. Mr, Dupres, then governor of Madras,, 
 wrote to him about a young gentleman, in the fol- 
 lowing words : 
 
 M My dear Colonel, 
 •' In the l.ft of officers appointed to your garri- 
 
 " (on, you will fee the name of . This 
 
 44 young man (nephew to Mrs. Dupxes), with 
 «* abilities that might render him conlpicuous, I 
 " am lorry to fay, itands in need of a (Irict hand. 
 11 All the favour 1 have to requefl of you is to 
 
SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 3$y 
 
 *' (hew him no favour : keep him rigidly to his 
 u duty; and, if he requires it, rule him with a 
 *' rod of iron. Should his future conduct meet 
 " your approbation, it is unnecefiary for me to afk 
 *' it, as you are always ready to fliew kindnefs to 
 '* thofe who merit it»" 
 
 The peculiar flyle of this letter made fuch an 
 imprefiion on my memory, that I am able to give 
 the ex<ift words. Colonel Campbell, however, 
 took his own unalterable method, mildneis — treated 
 the young gentleman in fuch a manner as to raiie 
 in him a conlcioufnefs of his dignity as a man, the 
 firfl and bed guard againft miic®ndu& — and ap- 
 pointed him to the grenadier company* The relult 
 was anfwerable to his expectations ; for the young 
 man's conducl, both as an officer and a gentleman, 
 was luch in the fequel as to reflecl: credit on him- 
 felf and his family ; and his very honourable and 
 hopeful career was at laft terminated by a cannon- 
 ball at the fiege of Tanjore. 
 
 if the veneration in which I (hall ever hold this 
 mod dear and refpe£ted relative admitted of m- 
 creale, it would certainly receive it from the con- 
 tract I am every day obliged to draw between him 
 and the wretched butUrjiits who fometimes flutter 
 round us under the name of men : for, how can I 
 help contrafting his inflexible courage, united to 
 angelic mildneis, with the iniolence of lilly-livered 
 Re £tors, who, confcious of the mod abjc£t cowar- 
 dice, dare to give an infult, and biiely ikuik front 
 Uoneft refemment beneath the arm of me law !— • 
 fellows who, like Bobadil in the play, can kill a 
 whole army with the tongue, but date uot face a 
 pigmy in tne field I — and, while they want the 
 prudence to .reilram the torrent of effeminate in- 
 ve&ive, have patience enough to bear a kicking, 
 or a box in the ear ! — who bluiler and vapour to 
 hide the trembling Umt> and poltroon afpetfc, as 
 
3 68 
 
 SETS OFF FOR BENGAL. 
 
 children whittle in the dark to hnve the ghofts 
 thev dread ! Beware of ail fuch wre'ehes as you 
 wouid fhun plague or peftilence. 1 hope you do 
 no magine that I have fo little common fenfe or 
 ] lanthrojjy as to centare thofe who, from phyfi- 
 c. . cautes or conftitutionai delicacv, are averie to 
 cont'd : No, no — I do a dure you, on the contrary, 
 that m\ oi ieivatiou leads me ?o think luch men, 
 though il iv\ to quarrel, and morienfive in conduft, 
 are vciy gallant when honour 01 duty demand from 
 them a conq i ft over their weakrrels. I have, in 
 mv time, feeii mch men at hilt the Iport, and at 
 laft the tenor of your bluftering bullies ; and I 
 have always thought, that in luch a triumph over 
 their feein.gs, they had more true merit than men 
 confittutionalv courageous : the latter has his va- 
 lour in common with the mere animal ; the oher 
 poiLiT s the valoar of fentirnent. 1 mear. that 
 incft ignominious of all beings, who, prodigal in 
 oftence, yet reluctant in repaiation — who, hoping 
 to find (ome ptiion paflive as themle.vcs nver 
 whem to triumph, haz3rd the giving of an imulr, 
 with the malignant view to galconade over him if 
 he lubmits — and, if he refents, to wreak the whole 
 vengeance of law upon him. In icuety wuhfuch 
 men, there is no lately ; for they leave you oniy 
 the caiuai alternative to choole between fhame * d 
 ruin. Him who fubmits, they cell poltroon ; ..nd 
 him who relents, they fleece in form of law. 1 Here 
 are others who, to bring their fellow-cieatures 
 down to their own level, biavc the execrations of 
 mankind, and the vengeance ol Heaven : luch 
 harpies do exilt, who, though bold enough to in- 
 i til t , are tame enough to receive chaftilement with- 
 out reft fiance ; and, though tame enough io lubmit 
 to c nent, are fo fuuoufly vinurctive as to 
 
 proclaim their fhame, their cowardice, perhaps in 
 the i^ce of an open court, in oider to glut t heir 
 revenge- by the uilla^e ofVtheir adveifary's t..urie. 
 
BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 3% 
 
 Let fuch men enjoy the fruits of their machinati- 
 ons, if they can — To their own feelings I confign 
 them; for I can wifh a villain no greater curfe 
 than the company of his own confcience, nor a 
 poltroon * more poignant fting than that which 
 the contempt of mankind infli&s upon him. 
 
 LETTER LX. 
 
 P 
 
 ASSING through Madura, I arrived at 
 Trichinopoly, where I met Mr. Sullivak, the 
 refident of Tanjore, who very politely furnifhed 
 me with a letter to Mr. Hippesley, his deputy 
 at Tanjore, from whom I received many marks of 
 civil i'.y. At that place L had the plea lure of meet- 
 ing a gentleman with whom I had been at college, 
 and for whom I had always entertained a great 
 efteem : this was Colonel Fullarton. It is an 
 old maxim, that we fhould fay nothing but good of 
 the dead — " De mortuis- nil nifi bonum." It is 
 not a new maxim, I believe, to avoid praifing ths 
 living : I am aware of the indelicacy of it ; and 
 therefore purpolely avoid in this, as I fhall in other 
 in fiances, fpeaking. the full opinion I entertain, 
 To the general efteem in which he was held by all 
 ranks of people in India, I refer you to Colonel 
 Fullartok's character : it is of fuch a fort, that 
 I wifh to hold it up for your imitation. At a time 
 of life when others have arrived to fome perfection 
 in their profeflion, he made choice of his, and en- 
 tered for the fit ft time into the arduous military de- 
 partment, with a command for which the training 
 of many years is no more than fnfScient to prepare 
 other men. The Minifter of that day gave him 
 this important charge, underwent the clamours •£. 
 
370 BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 
 
 Oppofition for it, and was juftined in the event. 
 When the Colonel came to aft, fo far from be- 
 ing deficient, his whole conduft was diilinguifhed, 
 net lefs for military talent than courage — while the 
 mod fortunate command and temper and captiva- 
 ting addrefs f'ubdued the fpirit of prejudice, recon- 
 ciled the moll dilcordanf, and gained him, though 
 a King's Officer, the efteern as much of the Com- 
 pany's as King's troops. In fhort, all ranks of 
 people, civil as well as military, whether belong- 
 ing to King^or Company, united in approbation of 
 his couduft — a thing not before, nor iince, but m 
 the per f on of Lord Corn wall is. 
 
 Too much cannot be faid of the advantages re- 
 fulting from a proper command of temper. To 
 promote that in my Flderick, will be attended 
 with little difficulty : on the contrary, my only 
 doubt is, that the placability and iniidntii of his 
 d fpofition will too often fubjeft him to impofition, 
 John is, however, of a different temper ; there is 
 iomething in it which requires both admonition 
 and good example to reprels within proper bounds : 
 to fhew him the beauty as well as uie of a mild, 
 cool temper, fuch inflahces as Colonel . Fullar- 
 ton may be of weight, and I wifh him to reflect 
 upon it. And here I am reminded of a perfon and 
 a encumftance fo exaftly in point, that I cannot 
 refrain from noticing them : they convey no inade- 
 quate idea of the happinefs reiulung from a gentle- 
 neus of nature, and dominion over the mind ; and 
 as the perfon I allude to is dead, I may {peak of 
 him with the greater freedom in that full (train of 
 praifc of which his Chining virtues deierve. 
 
 Of all the men I have ever had the good fortune 
 to know, Sir Archibald Campbell pofleiTed, 
 in the higheit degree, that heavenly turn of minri, 
 which not only is at peace with ilfelf, but diffules 
 harmony and cheerfulness around it. No bufinefs, 
 however urgent in occahon, refliifted in point of* 
 
BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 37 1 
 
 time, or embarraffed with difficulty — no accident, 
 however unexpecVd, or event, however finifter— • 
 none of thofe innumerable minutiae which fret and 
 chafe the tempers of other men, ever (ufpended the 
 cool tenor of his thought even for a moment : noth- 
 ing (hook, the ferenity of his temper — nothing de- 
 ranged the prefence of his mind : uniform and pla- 
 cid, he in all fituations had the full dominion of 
 himfelf, and in the field it gave him a decided fu- 
 periority ; nor was this felicity of nature confined 
 to his public conduct ; it attended him at the do- 
 meftic enjoyments of the fire- fide — at the fociat 
 board — in the private recefles of his clofet ; and 
 the very fame habit of foul which, in his great pub- 
 lic duties, rendered him valuable to his Country, 
 and formidable to her enemies, gained him the ad- 
 miration an«l efteeru of his friends, the unbounded 
 affeftion of his family, and the bleiTing of all his 
 dependants. 
 
 An incident that occured in my prefence may 
 ferve in fome meafure to decipher the mmd of this 
 admirable man — I fhall never forget it. Previoufly 
 to his going to India, he had exerted his interest 
 to obtain from the Eafl India Company Jome re- 
 ward for my fervices ; and, a few days before his 
 departure, promiied to fpeak again to Mr. De- 
 Vaynes, Chairman of the Eafl India Company. I 
 waned on him on the day he was letting off : he 
 was jufl about to depart, and furrounded by a nu- 
 merous circle. In the midfh of this bultle, and the 
 confufion, one would fuppofe, infeparable from 
 fuch a crifis, he recollected his promife — told mc 
 Mr. Devaynes had that minute taken leave of 
 him, and he had forgot to mention me. but faid 
 that he would write to him on the iubjeft : and, 
 though he was at the inftant on the point of mo- 
 ▼ing to the carriage that was to carry him off, fat 
 down, qhd with that amiable iweetnefs of manners 
 and happily collected mind fo peculiarly his own, 
 
37^ BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 
 
 wrote a letter for me to Mr. De VAYNES^--holdrng 
 converfation, the while, in the mod lively, enga- 
 ging manner, with the perfons aiound him. The 
 concifenefs and perfpicuity of language in which, 
 this letter was couched, will ferve to elucidate 
 what 1 have faid — I therefore tranfcribe it for you : 
 
 " St. James's Hotel, Sept, 30, 1785. 
 
 Xl Drar Sir, 
 
 ** I forgot to mention to you this forenoon, and 
 ** aga ; n to repeat my earned wifhes, you would 
 '* take the cafe of Mr. Campbell ipeedily into 
 4t your consideration. His lufferings were of fuch 
 18 a nature, and his fervices fo meritorious, that I 
 * c am peifuaded, upon a fair inveftigation of both, 
 u you will give him your firmed lupport. I have 
 * { loaked into all his papers \ and the teftimoriies 
 ** of eflential fervices rendered to the Company by 
 4i him, do him, in my opinion, the higheft ho- 
 " nour. Unlets fuch merits are recom-penfed, few 
 Xi will rifk every thing, as Mr. Campbell did, to 
 Ai promote the luccefs of the Company's arms in 
 11 India: but I truft you will fee it in its proper 
 " light ; and in that hope I (hall only add, that 
 " whatever acts of kindnefs you fhevv to him, will 
 *' be confidered as an obligation conferred on, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 ** Your faithful and mofl obedient humble fervant, 
 '* Archibald Campbell." 
 
 " To William Devaynes, £/q*" 
 
 Be allured, my dear boys, (for now I fneak to 
 John as well as Frederick), that one act of tri- 
 umph over the temper is worth a million of tri- 
 umphs over our fellow-creatures, and that the per- 
 fect dominion of our mind is more advantageous 
 and laudable than the dominion over Provinces or 
 Nations, The one attaches merely to our corpo- 
 
BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. $J$ 
 
 -real part, and is buried with our duft in the grave : 
 the other follows our immortal part, and paries with 
 it into eternity. 
 
 On my leaving Tanjore, Colonel Fullarton 7 
 honoured me with the care of a letter to Lord 
 Macartney, then Governor of Madras — an ex- 
 tract or which I give you, as it applied to my buii- 
 nefs particularly : 
 
 " Tanjore, March 20, 1783. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " 1 had the honour to write to your Jordfhip on 
 ' the -8th by Captain Hai-lam, who carried from 
 4 hence very large packets to you. The opportu- 
 ' nity of Captain Campbell tempts me to trou* 
 
 * ble your lordfhip, merely to inform you, that 
 '' ail my letters from Bidanoie afcribe in a great 
 4 degree the fucceis of our arms in that quarter, 
 4 and the romantic Revolution efrected theie, to 
 4 the influence he had with Hyat Sahib, .and 
 ' to the propofals of iutiender which he iuggeft- 
 ; ed, and tranlacled with the General and Jema- 
 ; dar. I think it neceflary that you, rny lord, 
 
 * may know how mucn the Public is indcb'ed to 
 
 * Captain Campbell, whofe good fortune in this 
 ' affair has only been equalled by his good conHutt. 
 i He is perfectly acquainted wim tne ftate of af- 
 ' faiis on the oiher coait, and has ieen and heard 
 c much of our trania£f:ons here ; fo that no perion 
 
 can give a more clear or unbiased view of 
 events." 
 
 I had alfo the good luck to meet, at Tanjore, 
 Mr. Buchanan, a very near conncft'on or mine, 
 for whom i had long entertained a fmcete and 
 warm regard. It has been my misfortune to h3ve 
 obliged fiecjuenily to cenfure lorne of my re- 
 latives for til-nature and ingratitude : I nevei uid 
 
 II 
 
374 BURNING OF GEXTOO WIDOWS. 
 
 fo without the mod painful fenfations. When, 
 on the contrary, I am enabled to fpeak to their 
 honour, I feel a proportionate fhare of pleafure : 
 I am therefore happy in mentioning Mr. Buchan- 
 an* as a man as amiable in his private as relpe&able 
 in his public character ; but the latisfaction I felt 
 at this meeting was much alloyed by finding him 
 in a very bad ftate of health. 
 
 Before I left Tanjore, I had an opportunity of 
 being eye-witnefs to that extraordinary and horrid 
 ceremony, the burning of a Gentoo woman with 
 the body of her hufband. As this is a point which 
 has occalioned much fpeculation and fome doubt 
 among Europeans, I indole you an accurate ac- 
 count of the ceremeny, as minuted down at« the 
 time it happened. 
 
 Defcription of the Ceremony of the Gentoo V/omeJi 
 burning themjelves with the bodies of their Hufbands. 
 
 ii This day, , I went to fee a Gentoo 
 
 woman refign herlelf to be burned along with the 
 corpse of her deceafed hufbmd. 
 
 " The piece fixed upon for this tragic fcene, was 
 a fmall iflet on the bank of one of the branches of 
 the river Cavery, about a mile to the Northward 
 of J l^e fort of Tanjoie. 
 
 (i When I came 10 the foot, I found the vi&im, 
 who appeared to be not above fixteen, fitting on 
 the ground, diefiea in the Gentoo manner, with 
 a white Cloth wrapped round her, fome white 
 fl wers likv j QTamins hanging lound her neck, and 
 ic me of tnem hanging from her hair. There were 
 al out twenty women luting on their hams round 
 her, holding a white hanaketchief, extenced hori- 
 zontal!) over her head, to inaoe hei fiom the lun, 
 ii v\a& excviiiveiy not, u being then about 
 noon. 
 
BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 375 
 
 ' ; At about twenty yards from where fhe was fit- 
 ting, and facing her, there were feveral Bramms 
 buiy in conftrucling a pile with biilets of fire- 
 wood : the pile was about eight feet long, and 
 four broad. They firft began by driving iome 
 upright flakes into the ground, and then built up 
 the middle to about the height of three feet and a 
 half with billets of wood. 
 
 ;< The dead hufb.ind, who. from his appearance, 
 feemed to be about iixty years of age, wis lying 
 ? by, {Iretchod out on a bier, made of Bamboo 
 E ..es. Four Bramins walked in procelhon three 
 limes round the dead body, full in a direction con- 
 ruiy to the fun, and afterwards other three tiroes in 
 a direction with the fun, all the while my tie ring hi- 
 cantations ; and at each round or circuit they made, 
 they untwi.fted, and immediately again twifted up 
 the hnaii long lock of hair which is left, unfhaven 
 at the back of their heads. 
 
 Si Some other Bramins were in the mean time 
 employed in fprinkling water out of a green leaf, 
 toiled up like a cup, upon a {mall heap of cakes 
 of dry cow-dung, with, which the pile was after- 
 wards to be let on fire. 
 
 f An old Bramin fat at the North-eaft corner of 
 the pile upon his hams, with a pair of ipectacles on, 
 reading, I luppo e, the Shatter, or their Scriptures, 
 from a book cotnpofed of Csjan leaves. 
 
 *' Having been present now nearly an hour, I 
 inquired when they meant to let the piie on hie : 
 they anfwered, in about two hours. As this ipec- 
 tacle was molt melancholy, and naturally Prruck ma 
 w;th horror, and as I had only gone there to aiTure 
 myfelf of the truth of jack Jacrif.ces b^ing made, I 
 went away towards the for 1 ". After I was gone 
 about five hundred yards, they lent fosoe one to 
 tell me they would burn immediately ; on which I 
 returned, and found the woman had been moved 
 Uotn where ihc wai fating to the river, where the 
 
37$ BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 
 
 Bramins were bathing her. On taking her out of 
 the water, they put iosne money in her hand, which 
 ihe clipped in the rLver, and divided among the 
 Bramins: Ihe had then a yellow cloth rolled par- 
 tially round her. They put fome red colour, about 
 the fize of a fixpence, on the centre of her fore- 
 head, and rubbed iomething that appeared to me 
 to be ctay. She was then led to the pile, iound 
 which (he walked three times as the fun goes : fhe 
 then momted it at the North-eaft coiner, without 
 any a fit Ma nee ; and fat herfelf down on the right 
 tide of her hufb.ind, who had been previoufly laid 
 upon the pile. Siie then unlciewed the pins which 
 fattened the jewels or ftlver rings on her arms : 
 after fhe had taken them off, fhe (hut them, and 
 icrewed in the pins again, and gave one to each of 
 two women who were (landing : fhe unferewed the 
 ear-rings, and other toys, with great compofure, and 
 divided them among the women who were with 
 her. There teemed to be fome little fquabble about 
 the distribution of her jewels, which fhe fettled 
 with great precifion ; and then, falling gently 
 backwards, pulled a fold of the yellow cloth over 
 her face, turned her bread towards her hufbands 
 Tide, and laid her right aim over his bread ; and in 
 this pofrure fhe remained without moving. 
 
 " Juil before (he lay down, the Biamins put 
 fome rice in her lap, and alio lome in the mouth 
 and on the long grey beard of her hufband : they 
 then fprinkled fome water on the head, breatt and 
 feet of both, a:rd tied them gently together round 
 the middle with a {lender bit of rope: they then 
 raited, as it were, a little wall of wood lengthways 
 on two hdes of the pile, (o as to raiie it above the 
 Jevel of the bodies ; and then put crols pieces, io 
 as to prevent the billets of wood from preiiing on 
 them : they then poured on the pile, above where 
 the woman lay, a potful of fomething that appeared 
 to me to be oil ; after this they heaped on moia 
 
BURNING OF GENTOO WIDOWS. 377 
 
 wood, to the height of about four feet above where 
 the bodies were built in ; lb that all I now law was 
 a flack, of (ire -wood. 
 
 " One of the Bramins, I obferved, Rood at the 
 end of the pile next the woman's head — was call- 
 ing to her through the interftices of the wood, 
 and laughed leveral times during the converiation, 
 LaiHy, they overfpread the pile with wet draw, 
 and tied it on with ropes. 
 
 '•' A Bramin then took a handful of draw, which 
 he fet on fire at the little heap of burning cakes of 
 cow-dung : and, Handing to windward of the pile, 
 he let the wind drive the flame from the draw till 
 it catched the pile. Fortunately, at this indant, 
 the wind role much higher than it had been any 
 part of the day ; and in an indant the flames per- 
 vaded the whole pile, and it burnt with great fury. 
 I liftened a few feconds, but could not didinguifh 
 any fhmks, which might perhaps be owing to my 
 being then to windward. In a very few minutes, 
 the pile became a heap of afhes. 
 
 <; During the whole time of this procefs, which 
 
 laded from tivk 10 lift above two hours before we 
 
 loft fight of the woman by her being built up iu 
 
 the middle of the pile. I kept my eyes almod con'- 
 
 flantiy upon her ; and I declare to God that I 
 
 could nor perceive, either in her countenance or 
 
 limbs, the lead trace of either ho: ror. fear, or even 
 
 hefuauon : hei countenance was perfectly corn • 
 
 poitd and clacid; and (he was not, 1 am pofitive, 
 
 either intoxicated or dupihed. From ieverai cir- 
 
 cmnuances, 1 thought the Bramins exulted in this 
 
 heinih iacuHce, and did not ieein at all diipiealed 
 
 Europeans fho'uld be wimeiTesof ;<\" 
 
 I' 10m I ai jore I proceeded to Negapatnam, which 
 
 u- en uken from the Dutch by the Company's 
 
 >ps, and where Mr. tocHRAN,«aii old friend 
 ot mine, was C^liief. 
 
 I i 2 
 
3J$ CHARACTER OF TIPPOO SAHIB. 
 
 The commanication by land between Negapat- 
 nam and Madras being interrupted by the enemy's 
 troops, I embarked in a veflfel, and proceeded thi- 
 ther by Tea — Major Johnston, of the Engineers, 
 being alio a paiienger. 
 
 LETTER LXI. 
 
 H 
 
 ITHERTO every ftep of my journey 
 has been maiked by occurrences lo unexpected, and 
 accidents fo extraordinary, that I fhould feel fome 
 repugnance to relate fhem, left: my veraciiy fhould 
 be called in queftion, were they not attefteti by To 
 many living perfons of refpec"ta K il ; 'y, and by writ- 
 ten documents of authority on record. Were one 
 to confider them merely as the offspring of ficYion, 
 they would perhaps have intereft enough to catch 
 the attention ; but, viewing them as fa&s, they 
 borrow, from their number and rapid luccellion. as 
 well as from their Angularity, fo much of the com- 
 plexion of imaginary adventure, that the combina- 
 tion cannot, I think, fail to intereft your mind as 
 well as vour feelings. 
 
 Arrived at Negapatnam. within a fhort run of 
 Madras, it is natural for you to fuppofe that adven- 
 ture was at an end, and that fortune, fatigued by 
 the incelTint exenion of her caprice, might Kave 
 left me to ' proceed the fhort refidue of my way 
 without further mole fir. ion. It fell out otKer- 
 wile : (he had ma'ked me as her game, and rclolved 
 to worry me to ;he ljft: moment ; for, es 
 proache i Madras, 'vve were c:ia(cd by a Firenc . iti- 
 aod '.aken r.eat Fort St. G.-oigc. 
 This j.)u_m ed to me the greater); misfortune I 
 had yet met with, and likely lo be the m*ft fa|ai 
 
 i 
 
CHARACTER OF TIPPOO SAHIB. tf§ 
 
 in its confequences. In order to explain this, I 
 muft recur to certain circumstances, which though 
 I was informed of them fince my releafe from Hy- 
 dcrnagur, I did not relate to you, becaufe they were 
 no way connected with my narrative till now. 
 
 Monficur Suffrein, the French Admiral, hav- 
 ing a number of Britifh prifoners in his poffeflion, 
 whom he found it extremely inconvenient to iup- 
 port, made a propofal for an exchange — which, 
 from fome failure in the conveyance, or ambi- 
 guity in the terms ©f the correfpondence, was 
 negle£ted. 
 
 The motives or accidents which gave rife to this 
 neglect have never been completely developed ; 
 and perhaps the Admiral himfelf, Sir Edward 
 Hushes, and Lord Macartney, were the only 
 perfons who knew the bottom ©f that tranfacYion, 
 Jn luch cafes, however, the ignorance of fa6fc is 
 generally fupplied by conjecture; and men have 
 prelumed to cenfure unequivocally on the mere 
 hypothetical fuggeftions of their own imaginations,. 
 Candour, however, in fuch a caie, where it could 
 not fpeak with certainty, would (peak with cau- 
 tion. An Historian, particularly, mould fleer clear 
 of party rancour, and not fuffer the prejudice or 
 malignity which milled himfelf, to go down to and 
 mi (lead pofterity. Where pofitive proof is want- 
 ing, if we are obliged to decide, we muft judge 
 by analogy and inference ; and in the caie now be- 
 fore us, we have little but the characters of the 
 pei Ions concerned to guide us in our aecilion. 
 
 Of the horrid cataftrophe which fucceeded the 
 neglect oi exchanging prifoners, it is hard, 
 bie ih-tt any one but Moniieur Suffrein hinnelf 
 could have had a^ conception. To fuppofe, thar, 
 under fuch an irnpreition, our leading men would 
 have heimted to prevent it, would bs to* fuj i 
 
 their intellects w;ak, and their hearts corrupt and 
 inhurran. I fancy it will be ciiiEcuU to Uiizn oa 
 
580 CHARACTER OF T1PPOO SAHIB. 
 
 Lord Macartney either the one or the other ; 
 for he was wile and humane : thole whom the dif- 
 appointment of unreafonable expectations, or the 
 malevolence of party, have induced to fujpe& his 
 Lorufhip's heart, have been forced by his conduct 
 to revere his talents ; and the breath of calumny 
 has never touched the humanity of Sir Ildw'.ud 
 Hughes. Whatever their motives, therefore, may 
 have been — reaion, conitience, and candour, muft 
 acquit them of the conk quences. It fhould be 
 recollected, too, that Monheur Sc ff r e in's cha- 
 racter was a very probable fecurity, in the mind of 
 men of lenie and honour, again ft any act of horrid 
 inhumanity : his conduct as an officer had made a 
 new sera in the Naval Hiliory of Fiance : his ta- 
 lents and couiage might be compared, without cm- 
 advantage, to tiio.e of the belt of *ur Britiih Ad- 
 mirals ; and he had exhibited marks of uncommon 
 generality to thoie whom the chance of war had 
 thrown into his hands* It would therefoie have 
 been fomethipg more than pielcience to have pre- 
 foppofed what actually happened ; and I dvcUie 
 moil iolemnly, that the inference I ciaw from the 
 whole in fot matron I have had on the fubj.ct is, 
 
 . calamitous though the event was, it at:, 
 no poutive g'-uit on any of the parties couceined.. 
 The facr. is plainly this : The French Admiral ha- 
 ving no place on the coail where he could fecuf.c 
 hij> pnioncis, and grieving, as he fmnleif iublc- 
 
 uly wrote to Mr. Hastings,, to iee the un- 
 happy men, who nad been fix 01 leven months at 
 lea, dying of the icuryy, delivered over the p;i- 
 
 rs, to the number of above three hundred, 10 
 Hyder. T: afterwards was fwch as 11 would 
 
 ow up youi loui ,0 hear related. 
 
 ! the cncumlUnces into one 
 
 ce, and iee v.T.at my feelings lr.utt nave been 
 . more a p: iioner. fci> 
 
 ALU, WilO . 
 
CHARACTER OF TIPPOO SAHIB. 38 1 
 
 pots of the European world, a monfler, mull yet be 
 confidered, when put in compariion, with his luc- 
 ceflbr Tippoo, mild and merciful. Hyder, from 
 policy and hypocrify, {hewed fome lenity to the 
 prifoners who fell into his hands. Inftancesare 
 known where Britifh captives have broke through 
 the crowd that iurrounded him into his pretence 
 for proteft'on — when he has hypocritically feigned 
 anger, threatened the perfons who had treated them 
 ill, reprobated feverity, and fent them off fatisfied 
 for the prefent. Tippoo, on the contrary, was 
 fo perfectly lavage, that cruelty fcemed to be, not 
 ouly the internal habit of his foul, but the guide of 
 all his actions, the moving principle of his policy, 
 the rule of his public conduct, and the lource of 
 his private gratification. Like the tyger which, 
 Buffon tells us, kills the whole flock before he 
 begins to feed, every appetite of his yielded to the 
 more urgent calls of barbarity ; and while one drop 
 blood of remained unfpilled, one agony uninfl cled, 
 one tear unified, the natural appetites of Ti p poo 
 itood fufpended, and the luxuries of life courted 
 his enjoyment in vain. Like the hyena which 
 Thompson calls the felled of the fell, the fury of 
 his nature was neither to be controuled by refin- 
 ance, nor alTuaged by blandiihments. Aloof from 
 the general order of the workings of Providence, 
 he (lands a (ingle inftance, in which the Omnipo- 
 tent has prelented a glowing living p:&ure, all 
 shade : not one ray breaks in, to relieve the gio- 
 my alpeclof the piece ; but, diftincl from the whole 
 human race, of him alone it may be laid, that he 
 never yet dilcloied, even for a moment, one lpaik 
 of virtue. 
 
 From barbarity fo inflexible to thofe taken in the 
 ordinary chance of war, what could 1 expeclifX 
 iell again into his hands — I who had been the in- 
 strument of one of his chief Governor's defection 
 — who had, by my negeciations, contnbuted to 
 
3S2 "CHARACTER OF T1PPOO SAHIB; 
 
 deprive him of a Province, and, what perhaps might 
 have had greater weight with him, robbed him of 
 the gratification of a long harboured revenge, by 
 putting his enemy Hyat Sahib under the protec- 
 tion of the Company ? Diabolical vengeance never 
 perhaps met with a (ubjeCr. of l'uch fublime enjoy- 
 ment, as the torturing of me would have been to 
 this monffeer. Couple this then, my Frederic 
 W-ilfi the fears of Suff rein's doing by me as he 
 hari aheadv done by the o:her Englifh prifoners — 
 and gue.'s what my terror and consternation muil 
 have been at falling into the hands of the French ! 
 
 Having (truck oar colours to the French frigate, 
 the Captain ordeied us to follow her, and (leered 
 to the northward. We obeyed him for ioir^ time : 
 at length night fell ; and, a fteih and favourable 
 breez-2 fortunately aiding the attesapt, we put 
 sbour, ran for Madras, and luckily dropt anchor 
 fafely in the roads. In the efcapes I had hitherto- 
 had, there was always ionie difagteeable c:rcum- 
 ftance* to alloy the pleature arrfing f.em them — In 
 this inilance, my joy was pure and unqualified ; 
 and I looked forward with a leafonjable hope- that 
 the word was all over. 
 
 Here I found Lord Macartney governor, 
 firuggling to lupport the credit oi the Compan . 
 and dirc&tng then affairs through fuch embarrarT- 
 ments and difficulties as made liie mod wire and 
 temperate despair of iucccris. So arduous an un- 
 dertaking as the g t»ent of Madras then was, 
 has rarely occurred : and a more.fuccelsful final ac- 
 compli fhment is not to be in (lanced. In the in- 
 ceilmL coniricis to which he was expoied, he main- 
 tained his pod with inflexible firmnc una .:- 
 ted energy of mind — and. in the moit trying crr- 
 Cuihftances, dilcharged his impoitant duty with zeal, 
 integrity and wifdom. The it net difcharge of the 
 duty lie owed to his country, railed ciamours^agah 
 bij^ among an inteieited few in India j but the 
 
PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 3S3 
 
 united applau-fes of ail parties, on his return to 
 -England, it imped currency on his fame, and has 
 -broken the fnafts of detraction. 
 
 LETTER LXII. 
 
 A: 
 
 FTER. fo many h^z^rds and hard 
 a; I had undergone, it was a rnoft pie. fl-ct.- 
 
 ion to find mylelf in a fociety compofed of my oid- 
 efl; profcfiional connections, and warmed and fin- 
 cereft friends : but this was ahappineis I could not 
 Jong enjoy ; for, being charged wirh a million from 
 Hy^t Sahib to the Governor- General and Su- 
 preme Council, I was con drained to proceed to 
 Bengal, and accordingly let fail, for Calcu:ts, 
 which I reached in little more than a week, with- 
 out encountering any accident, or meeting a fi 
 occurence, worth the relation. Upon my arrival 
 there, Sir John Mac rn 1: rsom. who was in the 
 Supreme Council, gave me a kind invitation to live 
 at his houfe, and prefentcd rne to Mr. Hastings, 
 with whom I entered into a negocia r ion on behalf 
 of Hyat Sahib, which will appear by the fol- 
 lowing letteis : 
 
 LETTER TO WARREN HASTINGS, ESC, 
 
 " Calcutta, May 3, r 7 8 .3 . 
 
 "HONOURABLE SIR, 
 
 <{ I fttion has put it out of my power, fince 
 
 * { the fiift dav after my arrival here, to have the 
 <; hbnout of paving you my leip'-cti, and of la] 
 " before you, for the infcima ion oi the board, tiie 
 " objeQs of my mifiiuii to your fuperin tending ^o- 
 " vcriiiucnt. 
 
3 8 4 
 
 PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 
 
 " As thefe objects are of public importance, and 
 <l as ill health may prevent me, for lome time lon- 
 " ger from havir;g the honour of waiting upon 
 " you, I take the liberty to beg youi attention to 
 ** this addrefs. 
 
 " Tre great revolution in favour of the. India 
 C£ Company upon B welt fine of India, and to 
 " wh ch I i-'u the apptnefs or being in lome little 
 u degree in flit-mental, has been certainly brought 
 " about by tic zeal and ipirit of General Mat- 
 " thews ; but that officer afcribes to the orders 
 '• 2 d fupplies of your government the principal 
 " merit of the undertaking : he lo->ks to the lame 
 " government for fupport in the arrangement which 
 * ; he has made, and may make, for the lecurity of 
 " the conquered province. 
 
 ** The hurry in which I left him, and his anxicv 
 " ty for my fpeedy communication of his fuccelT.-s, 
 ' ; e^ve no time for a formal communication to the 
 " Governor-General and cooncil, of the particu- 
 " Jars of his lucccHes, aq^ of the arrangements 
 " which he wiihed to be adopted. He w*ote a 
 '* fhort account of the fir ft to the Prefidencv of 
 ' ; Fort St. George ; and gave me a public letter 
 * J to the Commander in Chief of the Military 
 " Efn.bUfhment of that Prefidencv to which I par- 
 ,{ ticularly belong, in atleftation of the iei vices I 
 c; rendered in the negociation between him and the 
 " Governor of Bioanore, for the lurrendtr of that 
 " capital and province. A copy of that letter 1 
 " have the plealure to lay before ycu. 
 
 {; As I was charged with a particular commilTion 
 " from Hyat Sahib, the manager of the Buian* re 
 11 province, to the Governor-Geneial and council, 
 " 2* appears by his letter, which I had the honour 
 <{ of prelenting to you, General Mathews gave 
 " ire, in verbal infliuct'.ons, and memorandums 
 * : written in his own hand, the particulars of what 
 Li he wifhed me to lepreknt to your Govenimeni : 
 
TASSAGE TO BENGAL. 385 
 
 he gave me, befides, fhort notes of introduction 
 to two of the members of Government, whom 
 he knew perfonally — referring them to me for 
 an account of his fituation, and allowing me, I 
 believe, more credit than I deferve, for the 
 (hare I had in contributing to his final acquifi- 
 ' tion of Bidanore without drawing a (word. 
 
 * ; It would be tedious, and more fit for the de- 
 : tail of converfation than of a public addrefs, to 
 ; inform you of the various fteps that led to the 
 ; furrender of the capital and province of Bida- 
 1 nore. I had had feveral conferences with Hyat 
 1 Sahib before Ryder's death, and endeavoured 
 '• to uiggeft to him the advantage which would 
 : ari'e to him from a revolt in favour of the Com- 
 ; pany. My efforts in thefe conventions ended 
 ; ultimately in themoft rigorous diftrefs to myfelf: 
 ; I was put in irons, and remained fo for four 
 ; months, in a fituation only of exigence without 
 ; any hopes of ever efcaping. When General 
 ; Mathews had ftortoed the Ghauts, Hf at Sa- 
 hib lent for me, and, after various ftruggles, and 
 much indecifion, agreed to my proceeding to the 
 EngHfti camp ; and I conducted General Ma- 
 1 thews, almoft unattended, into Bidanore. Hy- 
 ; at Sahib at length agreed to fubmit : but as, in 
 His various converlations with me befora and af- 
 ter that event, he made a very particular diftinc- 
 tion between the government of Bombay and 
 the chief government of the Englilh in Indof- 
 lan, fo he propofed that I fhould immediately 
 depart, after he had given up the place and all 
 the forts of the Province, with a letter to yen, 
 to obtain vour lar.&ion to me to his arrangements 
 with the Englifh General. 
 
 " Thete anangements were not even cleaily de- 
 fined before my departure; and !o anxious was 
 he for my ipeedy arrival at Calcutta, that he only 
 Kk 
 
386 PASSAGE TO BENGAL- 
 
 '* gave rr.c the general propofitions that are con- 
 • 4 lained in his letter. 
 
 44 Permit me here to obferve, that it is by the 
 " treatnient which Hyat Sahjb meets with, that 
 44 the other chiefs of Hyder'.s country will efti- 
 44 mate the advantage of abandoning the interefts of 
 "Tippoo Sahib, or will confirm their depen- 
 44 dence upon him. Tippoo was prevented by 
 44 his father from all intercourfe with the Gover- 
 44 nors of his provinces, or any interference in 
 11 country affairs ; fo that thofe left in charge at his 
 44 father's death are ftranger's to him, and are men 
 M to whom he has little attachment. He is, be- 
 44 fides, eonfidered to be of a cruel dilpofition, 
 " His father was cruel upon a political principle : 
 11 he is thought to be fo from nature. 
 
 " The unfortunate differences about money which 
 " arofe in General Mathews's camp, and of 
 44 which you will probably hear from the Preli- 
 "dency of Bombay, took up much of the Gene- 
 " ral's time, and may have retarded his operations; 
 44 however, his iuccefs in the reduction of Manga- 
 " lore gives a fecurity to his con quells. The reve- 
 44 nues of the Bidanoie Province are about twenty 
 44 lacks of pagodas per annum. 
 
 *' The paiticular fituation of the capital merit* 
 " attention. It is placed in a valley of confidera- 
 44 blc extent in circumfeience : according to the 
 44 be ft oblervation I could nnke, there is an afcent 
 44 to it, from all fides, of near leven miles: it can 
 44 only be approached by four roads, which are cut 
 u among the hills, and which were judicioufly for- 
 44 tified with great pains by Hyder : woods, fo 
 41 the depth of many miles, are a frontier round 
 44 its fkirts ; and where thefe admitted a paflage, 
 44 Hyder took the precaution to plant bamboos 
 44 and thorns — fo that I have little fear but that 
 44 General Mathews will be able to defend theie 
 44 pa(Tes; and as for provifians, and military (tores 
 
PASSAGE TO BENGAL. ^7 
 
 u of all kinds, that were found in Bidanore, of 
 u the latter particularly, what, according to Gene- 
 •* ral Mathews's own declaration, would equip 
 ct nine fuch arrm'es as his. 
 
 ° Cundapore is the next fea-port to Bidanore, 
 4i and is diflant about fifty miles : Mangalore is 
 t; diflant about a hundred miles. The road lead- 
 ik ing from Mangalore joins with that from Cunda- 
 4i pore, where the afcent of the hills commence : 
 " another road from Bidanore leads to Seringipatam, 
 '• and a fourth into the Marhatta country. 
 
 ** It was from the lower country, along the fea- 
 ii coaft, between Onore and Mangalore, which is 
 4i watered by many rivers, and is the beft cultivated 
 M country I ever (aw, that Hyder got the greatest 
 14 part of his provifions for his army in the Cirna- 
 ,J tic ; and, independent of the advantages which 
 u the Company have gained by the acquisition of 
 " thefe countries, the confequent loites of the 
 fi Myforeans are immenfe, and fuch as will difable 
 4t them from affifting the French in the Carnatic. 
 
 t; It becomes not an officer of my rank to make 
 " any obfervations that relate to the ccndu& of the 
 *' different governments of my employers; but I 
 4i am obliged to obferve, in juftice to Hyat Sa« 
 •* hib's declaration tome, that he will not rely 
 11 upon any arrangement made in his favour by the 
 11 Governor and council of Bombay, unlefs he has 
 M a fpeedy anfwer to his letter from this govern- 
 * ; ment. He has requefted me to return wiih that 
 *' anfwer, and with the fan&ion of the Governor- 
 s * General to the cowl given to him by General 
 " Mathews. Though I am worn down by my 
 <; fufferings in prifon, and my health can fcarcely 
 <; enable me to be carried by land, I am ready to 
 M undertake this fervice ; for I know it is the 
 44 greateft I may ever have it in my power to reu- 
 •' der to the company and to my country. 
 
 44 My return to the other coaft with a favour*. 
 " ble anf'.ver to Hyat Sahib, will be the fignal ta 
 
^SS PASSAGE TO. BENGAL. 
 
 J 
 
 . . 
 
 (i 
 
 " other Chiefs to throw off the yoke of Tirroo j 
 '* and if Colonel Long has made any progreis in 
 * ; ihe Coimbatore country, or that General Ma- 
 11 trews has not been too feveiely pieiTed by. 
 11 Tipfoo, 1 may arrive upon the other coail in 
 " tune to be of real ufe to the company. 
 
 <; I know, Honourable Sir, the liberal and great 
 ,; f.yflem of your adminifltation : 1 will not, there- 
 fcJ fore, point out any litile circumflances about the 
 li fooling upon which I fhould return to Hyatt 
 " Sahib, or remain upon the other coa ft. 1 wilTi 
 » : only to be rewarded by my employers as I am 
 t4 fuccefsful ; and I ihall leave it to your goodnels, 
 w and to your diftinguifhed zeal for the public pro- 
 " priety, (o give me any inftructions for my con- 
 " c'uer, or to charge me with any advices to Gen- 
 eral Mathews, as you may think proper. 
 <; I hope you will paidon this long and irregu- 
 lar audrefs, and honour me by communicating 
 any part of it that you may think worthy of 
 **' cornmunica-tion to the gentlemen of the council* 
 
 * ; I have the honour to be, &c. &c. 
 
 *' Donald Campbell. :i 
 
 M p. S. When you are at leifure, and I am able 
 1 to have the honour of attending you, I would 
 1 wifh to communicate to you a more particular 
 ' detail of my converfaiion with Hyat Sak'I3 — 
 ' whft General Mathews's liopes of iupport 
 ; from this government were, and the future plans 
 ; he then meditated — and my ideas of the mea- 
 ; fures that fhouid be purfued by the Fielicency 
 • of Fort S'. George, to fupport Geneial I 
 1 thews, and improve the advantages he has 
 ; gained. 
 
 <: To IVarren Hajlings, Efq. 
 Governor-General of Bengal" 
 
PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 389 
 
 LETTER. JROM HYAT SAHIB, ALLUDED TO 
 IN THE FOREGOING. 
 
 (UJual Introdutlion.J 
 
 " I have directed the affairs of the Soobeh of 
 c; Hydernagur for fome years pad, on the part of 
 " the Navvaub Hyder. When lately attacked 
 " by the victorious forces of the Englifh under the 
 M command of General Mathews, I oppofed him, 
 «' and fulfilled my duty in every refpect : but fec- 
 " ing the fuperior fortune and force of the En- 
 " glim, and receiving propofals for peace from 
 <! General Mathews, by thefe circumftances, but 
 t{ more efpecially by the perfuafions of Captain 
 * J Campbell, the fon of Colonel Campbell, 
 (i who was formerly at Chinaputtan, I was indu- 
 <: ced to come to terms, and delivered up to Gen- 
 i; eral Mathews the treafury, property, Mores 
 il and keys of the forts of this country. If I had 
 11 been difpofed, I had it in my power to have ap- 
 " propriated this collected wealth to other purpo- 
 il fes ; but, from a regard to the high fortune of 
 " the King of England, and the uprSghtnefs 
 *' and integrity of the Englifh people, I have in- 
 " eluded myfelf in the number of your fervants, 
 t; and have determined, with the utmoft fincerity 
 " and purity of heart, to ferve you well and faith- 
 li fully. By the blefiing of God, under your 
 " aufpices, my endeavours towards the well and 
 " full performance of my duty (hall be ten-fold 
 " greater than heretofore ; and as General Ma- 
 • ; thews intends to proceed to Seringputtam, 
 your loyal fervant will aflift, to the utmoft of 
 his ability and power. You will be Fully infor- 
 med on this fubjret by Captain Campbell. 
 Honour, and favour, and reward, rnuft flow 
 ** from you. 
 
 " From the time of your firft eftabliihment in this 
 " country to the p?e r ent period, the engagements *f 
 
 K k 2 
 
yjo PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 
 
 " the Englifh have been facredly performed and ad- 
 " hercd to ; nor have they been wanting in their 
 * ; protection of the honor and dignity of the Sur- 
 11 dars of Bengal, and other places. I hope, from 
 Ct your favour and benevolence, that you will ifTue 
 " your commands to General Mathews, to favour 
 " me with ail due kindnefs and attention. I have 
 " taken fheker under the fhadow of your benevo- 
 41 lence. Captain Campbell lias fhewn me great 
 *' kindnefs in this relpect., and, by encouraging me 
 * J to hope for your favour, has led me to become 
 " your fervant. You will be fully informed of the 
 11 {late of affairs in this quarter by Captain Camb- 
 11 bell'i letters. 
 
 li Written on the 25th of SufTur, A. H. 1197." 
 14 A true copy, 
 
 " J. P. Auriol, SH." 
 
 LETTER TO WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. 
 
 " Calcutta j May 25, 1783. 
 
 14 Honourable Sir, 
 11 Some time ago, I did myfelf the honour of 
 
 •* writing to you, on the fubjeft of my million 
 11 from Hyat Sahib to this government. 
 
 u It is with pleaiure I now underftand that you 
 ;f have come to the refolutionof lending an anfwer 
 
 to His letter. I cannot help delivering it as my 
 " opinion, that a decided and avowed protect-ion 
 i; granted to him from this government, will be 
 t; productive of great public utility : but fhould 
 k: you, and the other gentlemen of the council, 
 *•' think proper to decline this, from motives beft 
 11 known to yourfelves, and of which I fhall not 
 ,: pretend to judge, 1 beg leave humbly to repre- 
 ■' tent, that the fooner Hyat Sahib's letter is 
 *• acknowledged, the more iatisfa&ory it .will be lo 
 
B^SSAGE TO BENGAL. 391 
 
 u him, and the more efficacious in its probable 
 " good confequences.*^ 
 
 " I am ready and anxious to proceed immediate-r 
 u ly to the other coaft with the anfvver to Hyat 
 " Sahib, and fhall take the liberty of hoping that 
 " you will give me inftructions to remain iome 
 Ci time with him, that he may have an opportunity 
 <: of tranfmiuing, through me, any communication 
 " that he may wilh to cftablifh with this govern- 
 " ment. 1 have the pleafure to inform you, that 
 u that Prefidency to which I particularly belong, 
 {i have granted me their conlent to be employed in 
 i; the final arrangement of the Bidanore treaty, 
 u fhould your board think proper to choofe me as 
 <{ a fit perfon ; and they have further unanimoufly 
 " done me the honour to approve of my conduct 
 * { in the commencement of this bufinefs- 
 
 " With refpeft to the appointments you may 
 il judge right to allow me, I trufl entirely to your 
 M own ideas of propriety. I wifh for nothing more 
 <{ than what is fufHcient to defray the expences of 
 ** fuch a journey, and to enable me to maintain 
 " that character in a fituation of this kind which is 
 •• requifite to promote the public good. 
 " I have the honour to be, with the greateft refpect, 
 u Honourable Sir, 
 
 11 Your moft faithful and mod obedient fervant, 
 
 " Donald Campbell/* 
 
 After fome delay, I received inflru&ions, toge- 
 ther with a letter from Mr. Hastings for Hyat, 
 with which I fet off in order to deliver it into his 
 own hands, as follows : 
 
 letter to captain donald campbell, 
 
 " Sir, 
 <; I have it in command from the Honourable 
 * the Governor-General and council, to uanfmit 
 
392 PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 
 
 * c you the inclofed anfwer^ from the Gevernor- 
 " General to the letter v4lich you brought from 
 ii Hyat Sahib, the Fouldar of Bidanore, to this 
 6i government, upon the occafion of his furrender- 
 * ; ing that country to the company. As you pro- 
 " pole to return to Bidanore, the Bo3id requeft 
 M that you will deliver this anfwer in perfon to 
 (i Hyat Sahib, with the affurances from them of 
 u every protection and fupport which the eminent 
 " fervices rendered by him to the company give 
 " him fo good a right to expect., and which they 
 " have it in their power to grant ; and you will 
 *' acquaint him, that they have further agreed to 
 6i recommend him in fuch terms to the Honoura- 
 81 ble the Court of Directors, as may encourage 
 4i him to hope for every attention from their 
 " juftice. 
 
 " Confidering the great importance of the ac- 
 H quilition of Bidanore to the company, its piopor- 
 " tionable difadvantage to the enemy, and the 
 if magnitude of the objtct. to be obtained by ho!d- 
 " ing out every pofiible incitement and encourage- 
 " ment to the Managers of the My lore country, to 
 *' throw off a new and unfettled dependence on 
 kt the enemy's government, in order to obtain a 
 11 more fecure and beneficial tenure from the com- 
 u pany's poffeflion, the Board are the more readi- 
 u . ly inclined to afford this early return to the ad- 
 " vances of Hyat Sahib, in the hope that it will 
 u infpire him with freih confidence in the Englifh 
 M government, and rivet his attachment to it. 
 
 " It will be at your option, either to return im~ 
 " mediately with Hyat Sahib's anfwer to the 
 M Governor-General's letter, if you (hall deem it 
 M of fufficient confequence to require it, or to re- 
 11 main with him, if you conceive that your refi- 
 " dence there for any time will be more conducive 
 44 to the public interefts ; but, in either cafe, you 
 «' are dc fired to report the particulars of your rq- 
 
PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 393 
 
 it% ception and proceedings to this government, 
 " with any other intomiation which you may think 
 i; it ufeful for them to know. 
 ■ % • 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 " Your moti obedknt, humble fervant, 
 
 •« J. F. Auk jo l, Sa." 
 *f Fort William, May 29, 1783." 
 
 It would be unpardonable in me to let this occa- 
 fion pals, without exprelTmg the high fenfe I en- 
 tettain of Mr. Hastings's politenefs, and Sjr 
 John Macpherson'j kindnefs and hofpitaliiy, 
 during my ftay at Calcutta. As to Mr. Hastings,- 
 in his public capacity, it would be pi^fumptuous 
 and injudicious to fay much, as he now -frauds for 
 the judgment of the highefl tribunal in this coun* 
 try. My own obfervation leads me to confider 
 him as a man of found, acute and brilliant taints, 
 and of a vafi and comprehenfivc mind — of manners 
 fociable, amiable, meek and unaffected — and of a 
 difpofition truly benevolent. His fuperior know- 
 ledge of the political intercfts of Indoftan, and 
 particularly of the affairs of the Eaft India compa- 
 ny, has never been queftioned ; and, if the fuffrage 
 of the people of India may be allowed to decide, 
 his con duel; as Governor-General, though, like 
 every thing human, intermixed with error, was, 
 on the whole, great and laudable — for I declare I 
 Icarcely ever heard a man in India, Native or Eu- 
 ropean, cenfure him, although he was often the 
 Jubjecl; of converfation with ail perfons and in all 
 companies in the Eaft, 
 
 The focial virtues of Sir John Macphersom 
 are fo well known, that it would be fuperfluous to 
 notice them. The fame friendfhip and hofpitality 
 I experienced in his houfe, has been fhared by 
 many,, who are not backward in doing him ample 
 juftice on that head. But his conduct during U is 
 
394 PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 
 
 fhort adminiflration can be known only by thofe 
 who make the political concerns x>( India a fubjec~i 
 of ftudious attention. To en^er into a detail of 
 his various wife regulations for the reftoraiion of 
 the company's affairs, wou/d be deitruftive of the 
 end I propofe, which is. by a concife and fimple 
 fummary of the whole* to render a fair pi&ure of 
 his adminiflration fo clear as to be underflood by 
 any perfon, however ignorant he may be of the 
 politics of that country, and fo brief as not to dif- 
 courage the reading of it. 
 
 Sir John Macphersqn took the reins of 
 government into his hands on the firfl of February, 
 1785. He found the company's revenues dimi- 
 nifhed, and their expenditure increafed, by the 
 continual claims of Proprietors, Directors, and 
 Minifies, to a fhare in the patronage of Mr. 
 Hastings — and a public debt accumulating to art 
 eno/mous amount. He therefore (aw the neceflity 
 of putting in practice every expedient pofTible, 
 md trying every experiment that the (late of the 
 country fuggefled, as likely to promote an increafe 
 of the revenue, a diminution of the public expen- 
 diture, and a liquidation of the debt. He, there- 
 fore, on the fourteenth day cf his adminiflration,- 
 commenced a reform, which he continued with 
 indefatigable zeal and induflry to introduce through 
 the various departments of government — and, be- 
 ginning with himfelf, di!ch3rged his body-guards. 
 \Vhiie he was thus employed in India, the Com- 
 pany rnd Parliament in England were unremit- 
 tingly engaged in confiderng and molding into 
 fhape a fyflein of reform alio; and, extraordinary 
 as it may appear, the fa£r fc, that the fagacity of 
 Mr. Macpkerson had adopted by anticipation', 
 and actually reduced to practice, the identical fp«- 
 culative reforms which the Parliament and Com- 
 pany were proceeding upon in England ; and the 
 general pfan of reform which palled the court of 
 
PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 395 
 
 dire&ors on the eleventh of April, 1785, had been 
 actually carried into execution by Sir John Mac- 
 jherson in Bengal, in the months, of February, 
 March and April, 1785. He made arrangements 
 for 1 the diff-fion of knowledge — eilabhfhcd the 
 fettlement of Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's 
 Ifland — fettled the bank of Calcutta 01 a firm bafis 
 — regulated the maikets — and, by a plan of his 
 own conception, fecured the Company n the 
 
 accuftomed fraudulent compositions with Zemin- 
 dars, by bonding their balances, and making the 
 bonds cancelable only by the Court of Directors. 
 In fine, he introduced and carried into efTeft a 
 fyftern of reform which had a mod fudden and 
 ialutary efTecl: on the Britifh affairs in India; and 
 in an adminiflration of only eighteen months, he 
 had the felicity to perceive the fruits of his wiH- 
 dom and induftry maturing — to receive that befl: of 
 earthly rewards, the efteem and applaufe of his 
 fellow-citizens — and to be honoured by the bed of 
 Sovereigns with the dignity of a Baronet. 
 
 While I was at Sir John Macpherson's houfe, 
 I happened, in converfation one day with Mr, 
 Macauly, Sir John's Secretary, to be talking 
 over fome part of ray adventures ; and found to 
 my aftonifhment, that he had, in his route to India, 
 accidentally hired the very iervant whom 1 had 
 loft at Triefte by fending him for letters to Ve- 
 nice ; and Mr. Macauly allured me, that he 
 found him poffefled of all the good qualities I had 
 expected to meet in him : but the poor fellow had 
 died before my arrival at Calcutta, to my great 
 mortification and difappointment. 
 
 As the feafon in which I was to leave Calcutta 
 was very unfavourable for a voyage by lea, and the 
 coaft thereabouts is one of the mod inholpitable in 
 the world, I fet off by land for Madras, and in my 
 way had an opportunity of furveying that curious 
 and grotefejue monument of fuperftitieus folly, cal- 
 
39 5 
 
 PASSAGE TO BENGAL. 
 
 led the Jagranaut Pagoda. It is an immenfc, baf- 
 "barous ftruclure, of a kind of pvramidal form, cm- 
 bellifhed with devices cut in flone-wotk, not more 
 lingular than difgufting. Chriftian idolators, in 
 forming types and figures of divine beings, always 
 endeavour to reprelent them with perfonal beauty, 
 as proportionate to their divine nature as human 
 fkill can make it. Thole Pagans, on the contrary, 
 in forming their idols, cad out every veftige of 
 beauty — every thing that, by the content of man- 
 kind, is fuppofed to convey pleanng fenfations^ 
 and, in their place, fubftitute the mofl extravagant, 
 unnatural deformity, the mofl loathfome naftinefs, 
 the rroft difgufting obicenity. It is not in lan- 
 guage to convey an adequate idea of their temples 
 and idols; and if it was, no purpofe col' J be an- 
 fwered by it, only the excitement of painful and 
 abominable fenfations. To keep pace with the 
 figures of their idoU, a chief Bramin, by fome 
 accurfed artificial means, (by herbs, Tbelieve), has 
 brought to a mofl unnatural form, and enormous 
 dimenfions, tliat which decency forbids me to 
 mention •, and the pure and 'potlefs women, who 
 from infancy have been fhut up from the Tight of 
 men, even of their brothers, are brought to kifs 
 this difgufting and misfhapen monfter, under the 
 prepofterous belief that it promotes fecundity. 
 
 In this Pagoda flands the figure of J.;granaut, 
 (their god under Brama) ; and a fightly figure it is 
 truly ! — nothing more than a black ftone, in an ir- 
 regular pyramidal form, having two rich diamonds 
 in the top by way of eyes, and a nofe and mouth 
 painted red. For this god, five hundred priefls 
 aie daily employed in boiling food, which, as he 
 feldom eats it, they doubtlefs convert to their own 
 u(e in the evening. 
 
 I flopped at Vizagapatnam ror a few days with 
 Mr. Russe l, who was chief of that place. His 
 Ilyle of living was fo exactly (imilar to that of an 
 
CONCLUSION. 397 
 
 elegant family rending at their country-houfe in 
 England, that I felt inyfelf more happy and com- 
 fortable than I had been fince my arrival in India ; 
 and that happinels was much increafed by meeting 
 Mr. Maxtor, who was married to Mr. Russel's 
 daughter. This gentleman and I had, when mere 
 boys, been fhipmates on our firft going out to India : 
 a warm friendmip took place between us, which 
 has met with no interruption, but rather increafed 
 from lapfe of time, and greater habits of intimacy. 
 To fee a man whom I fo entirely efteemed, in 
 pofTeffion of the mod perfect domeftic felicity, and 
 iurrounded by a number of amiable connections 
 and friends, was tome a fubjeci of the mod pleafing 
 contemplation. 
 
 LETTER LXIII. 
 
 L 
 
 (EAVING Vizagapatam, I took my 
 route along the coaft, and arrived at Mafulipatam, 
 where I heard rumours of the unfortunate fate of 
 General Mathews. This threw fuch a damp 
 upon my fpirits, that all the hofpitality and kind- 
 nefs of Mr. Daniel, the chief, could fcarcely raifc 
 me from defpcndence ; and on my arrival at Ma- 
 dras, I found the whole amply confirmed. 
 
 As Hyat Sahib's affair yet remaining unfet- 
 tled, and I confidered.myfelf in a degree pledged 
 to obtain him lome fatisf?ftion for his lervices in 
 furrendering the province of Bidanore, and to ful- 
 fil my engagements with him and the Supreme 
 Council, I determined to proceed to Bombay, not- 
 withstanding the difafter of General Mathews, 
 which had entirely crufhed all my private profpe&s 
 in that quarter, and to co-operate with Hyat Sa- 
 
 LI 
 
39 8 CONCLUSION. 
 
 HiB.in fuch meafures as might yet remain to us 
 for promoting the public good. I left Madras, 
 therefore, and proiecuted my journey without any 
 material interruption until I reached Palamcotah, 
 where the chagrin arifing from my various difap- 
 pointments, co-operating with fatigue and climate, 
 threw me into a fit of ficknefs, which confined me 
 to my bed for five or fix weeks. Upon recovering 
 a little, I crawled on to Anjengo, where, at the 
 houfe of Mr. Hutchinson, the Refident, (who 
 treated me with cordial kindnefs), I waited for an 
 opportunity of getting to Bombay, and during that 
 time laid in a flock of flrength and fpirits : at 
 length a Europe fhip touched at Anjengo on her 
 way to Bombay, I obtained a paffage and pro- 
 ceeded. 
 
 At Bombay I found Hyat Sahib, it having 
 been deemed expedient to fend him away from 
 Bidanore on the approach of Tippoo with his 
 army, where 1 received from him a confirmation of 
 what I have dated reflecting General Mathews 
 receiving only two lacks of rupees and a necklace. 
 And now, as peace was negociating between us 
 and Tippoo, and my remaining on the Malabar 
 coaft could be of little ufe, I determined to return 
 to the Carnatic. And here I have an incident to 
 add to the many difagreeable occurrences of my 
 life, in which, with intentions the mofl innocent, 
 I was made the iubject of obloquy and unmerited 
 fcandal. 
 
 Juft at' the time I was leaving Bombay, a young 
 lady, the daughter of a perlon formerly of high 
 rank in India, and now a member of Parliament, 
 but whofe name it would be ufelefs to mention, 
 wifhed to return to the Carnatic ; and I, at the 
 requeft. of herfelf, and another lady with whom 
 fbe lived, unguardedly took charge of her during 
 the journey. Before our departure, I reflected, 
 upon the difficulties and impropriety of this ftep. 
 
conclusion. 399 
 
 and communicated my ideas to the ladies, who, in- 
 ftead of liftening to the obje&ions I darted, .pref- 
 fed me to fulfil my promife :- 1 confented, purely 
 from principles of politenefs and good-nature. 
 During the courfe of our journey, (he unfolded to 
 me, of her own accord, certain s a£ts of cruelty and 
 injudiee fhe had differed from her father, at the 
 indigation of her mother-in-law, with a (lory of her 
 innocence having fallen, and her reputation hav- 
 ing been dedroyed, by a connection of the lady 
 under whofe charge fhe was, and who for that rea-' 
 fon had preffed her departure with me ; and added, 
 fhe was fo difgufted with India, that fhe determin- 
 ed to. quit it ; and entreated me to aflid her in the 
 accomplifhment of her wifhes. I difapproved, in 
 the mod unqualified'terms, of her prejc£l— gave 
 her thebed and mod difinterefted advice — and, 
 through the whole difagreeable bufinefs which was 
 impoled upon me, afted merely with a yiew to her 
 honour and happinefs ; and feveral of the mod 
 refpc&able people in Palamcotah, where (he palled 
 fome time, and at Madras, where fhe afterward* 
 redded, could atted the delicacy of my conduct 
 towards her, as well as the concern and intered I 
 took, in every thing that was likely to be of advan- 
 tage to her. 
 
 This is a fair ftatemcnt of the matter; and yet, 
 on account of it, I was mod infamoufly fcandaliz- 
 ed ; and the fcandal reached even the ears of my 
 father, whom, however, I foon fatisfied on that 
 head. Rut that which dung me to the quick was 
 the co iduct of fome of my own relations, (who, if 
 they even could not j a ft i f y or approve, ought at 
 lead to have been filent), in becoming the mod 
 virulent of my detractors — though, when the cha- 
 racter of thole very relations had on former occa- 
 fions been reflected upon, I dood up and defended 
 them at the imminent har.ird of my life. Such 
 conduct appeared to me mod atrocious ; for, whe- 
 
4C0 CONCLUSION. 
 
 ther from affection, felfiihnefs, or pride, I always 
 flrenuoufly Supported my relations, if I heard them 
 traduced in their abfence — and, when I was not 
 able to juflify their proceedings, at leaft fuppreffed 
 the conversation. To a man who had uniformly 
 ncted fo, were there even no reciprocation cf 
 family affection, mutual juftice demanded different 
 treatment from that I experienced, which could 
 have fprung on'.y from depravity of heart, poverty 
 of intellect, and the mod abject meannefs of fpirit. 
 And what is remarkable on this, as well as on 
 other occafions, thole who had been under the 
 greatefl obligation to my father and myfelf, were 
 the mofl inveterate. 
 
 On the death of my father, looking over his pa- 
 pers in the prefence of the Deputy Sheriff of 
 Argyll, and three other gentlemen, we met with a 
 letter on the fubject from the young lady's father 
 to mine, reflecting in a grofs manner on my cha- 
 racter. I directly wrote to that gentleman, explain- 
 ing the whole affair, and demanding juftice to be 
 done to my reputation. Upon an ecclaireciffement 
 ©f the matter, he wrote- to me a complete apology, 
 acknowledging that he had acted on that cccafion 
 through mtfreprefentation, and had too eafiiy given 
 credit to ill-founded reports ; and faying, that as 
 the letter in queflion had. by the perufal of the 
 Deputy Sheiiif and other gentlemen, in fome tnea- 
 fure become a matter of public notoriety, he thought 
 it incumbent on him to make that apology, and to 
 exprefs his fincere regret for any detriment I might 
 have fuftained, by his yielding unguardedly to a 
 fudden impulfe of paflicn, cauied, as he was then 
 perfectly convinced, by mi fi information. 
 
 Thus was my character at once cleared of a ca- 
 lumny which the induflrious villany of a few had 
 contrived to propagate through every Ipot of the 
 earth where I was known. 
 
CONCLUSION. 40* 
 
 This (lory may ferve as an inflructive lefTon to 
 you, my Faederick, to avoid, in the very fir ft 
 inftance, any connection with women that in the 
 probable courfe of things can lead to private acts 
 of confidence : they are at beft indifcreet — tend, 
 as in this "cafe, to make a man a dupe — and never 
 fail to lead to fcandal and reproach. You will alfo, 
 from the letter of the lady's father, found eight or 
 ten years after it was written among my father's 
 papers, fee the impropriety and hazard of commit- 
 ting your thought^ incautioufly to paper. I have 
 known it frequently, as in this inftance, end in 
 mortification and regret. . ,, 
 
 Before quitting entirely the Malabar coaft, I took 
 a trip to Surat, which amply repaid me for my trou- 
 ble, ll furpaffes any part of India for extent and 
 variety of commerce, for populous ftreets and. fu- 
 burbs, and for a continually moving fcene of opu- 
 lence. For a more minute account of it, I refer 
 you to the Abbe Raynal, who, though not gene 
 rally accurate, is fo elegant, that you will be able, 
 -from his defcription, to form a lively conception 
 of the place, ami its lingular cuftoms. 
 
 Here I was received in a very friendly manner 
 by Mr. Seton. And indeed I may now once for 
 all declare, that at every place where 1 flopped', 
 and every pouVl palled, from my leaving England 
 till my return, I experienced the mo ft kind and 
 liberal reception, and the moft affiduous attention : 
 my wants of every kind, whether of vefTels, boats, 
 guards of Sepoys, letters of introduction, Sec. being 
 iupplied by anticipation. I had fcarcely occaiion to 
 make a requeft, or exprefs a wilh ; nor was the 
 attention {hewn to the public fervice lefs than that 
 which was mamfefled for my private convenience. 
 To kindnefs io truly confolatosy as it then was to 
 me, I never look back without fentiments of un- 
 bounded gra:itude and unfeigned acknowledgment. 
 
 L I 2 
 
402 CONCLUSION. 
 
 My journeys by land in India after my {hip- 
 wreck, independent of long voyages by fea, a- 
 mounted to more than three thoufand miles. After 
 getting back to Madras, my health being materially 
 injured, I refolved to return to England : but, 
 having feen almoft all. the Company's pofleflions, 
 I felt a curiofity to fee China, and determined to 
 make that my way. To render this route more 
 agreeable tome, Lord Macartney, in addition 
 to his other favours, gave me .the following hand- 
 fome letter of introduction to Mr. Pi gov, the 
 Company's chief fupercargo at Canton : 
 
 11 Fort St. George, July 23, 1784. 
 " Sir, 
 
 <f This letter will be delivered to you by Captain 
 <; Donald Campbell, of this Eftablifhment — a 
 c< gentleman who has fignalized himfelf on many 
 •* cccafions, but more particularly by his ability 
 * ; and addrefs in accomplishing the furrender of the 
 •' fort of Bidanore, at which place he had been 
 '• long a priioner. His ill {late of health contract- 
 44 ed there, renders a voyage to China, perhaps to 
 ** Europe, abfolutcly neceffary. Should he remain 
 " any time at your Settlement, I {hall be much 
 " obliged to you for any attention and civility 
 t: {hewn to him ; and I (hall be happy, on any oc- 
 t: cafion you may afford me, of returning your po- 
 " lite attention to an officer of io much merit 
 * : as Captain Campbell, and of proving how 
 s; much I am", 
 < ; Sir, 
 
 K Your moll obedient and mofi humble fervant, 
 
 Macartney, 
 * ; To William Henry Pigou, E/q." 
 
 I had alfo a letter to Mr. Freeman, another 
 Supercargo there ; by whom, as well as by Mr, 
 
CONCLUSION. 403 
 
 Pigou, I was treated with great politenefs ; and 
 Mr. Freeman being obliged to leave Canton, and 
 go to Macao, for the recovery of his health, invi- 
 ted me to accompany him there. I availed myfelf 
 of the opportunity : and, as we went all along 
 through the rivers, had an opportunity of feeing 
 more of the country than many of the Europeans 
 who vint that country. With the obfervations 
 which I made in the courfe of this excurfion and 
 my refidence at Canton, I would furnifh you, but 
 that Lord Macartney's embaffy is juft returned 
 from that country ; and there is every reafon to 
 hope that he, or fome of the gentlemen who atten- 
 ded him, and who poffefs luperior abilities and 
 more ample materials, will favour the public with 
 a much more peifcft account than mine could pof- 
 fibly be. 
 
 While 1 remained at Canton, a very difagreeable 
 rupture took place between the Fa£tory and the 
 Chinefe. An Englifh fhip lying at Wampoa, in 
 ialuting, (battered a Chinefe boat ; by which acci- 
 dent, two men in it were much hurt with the fplin- 
 ters, and one of them died of his wounds foon af- 
 ter. The matter was clearly explained to the Man- 
 darins ; and they feemed to be fatisfied that it was 
 merely an accident. A few days after, the Saper- 
 corgo of the fhip was forcibly feized, and carried 
 into the city : the Council met, and determined to 
 fend for the failors from the (hips : and in the even- 
 ing after dark, fifteen or fixteen, boats, with four 
 or five hundred men attempted, in an irregular 
 manner, to come up to Canton — were fired upon 
 by the Chinefe boats and forts in paffing, and, with 
 a few men wounded, were compelled to retreat. 
 Nothing could furpafs the confternation and inde- 
 cifion of the Council ; and after the molt humilia- 
 ting language, they were obliged to appeafe the 
 Chinefe, and fettle the affair by giving up the gun- 
 ner of the fhip to their refenuncnt, 
 
404 CONCLUSION. 
 
 On the 29th December, 1784, I embarked irr 
 the Ponfborne Eaft-Indiaman, Captain Hammet, 
 in which I had come from Madras to China ; and, 
 after a tolerable voyage of five months and two 
 days, got on board a fifhing boat off Falmouth, and 
 was put on fhore there, having been exjftly four 
 years and five days from England. 
 
 Such was my impatience to fee you, that I wrote 
 from Falmou.h for you to meet me at Bath. We 
 arrived there the lame day : and never in my life did 
 I experience fuch tranfports cs in fir ft prefling you 
 to my bofom : I found you all that" my heart could 
 wifh ; and I muft, in juftice to my opinion, aver, 
 that not one action of your life has tended fince to 
 give me a moment's pain : on the contrary, I have 
 every teslon to be latisfied that my fanguine hopes 
 of you will be realized. The turn of your thoughts 
 and a&icns have been vigilantly watched and clofe- 
 \y examined by me ; and from your afTeftion to 
 xnyfelf and your mother, your gentle deportment to 
 my domeMics, your franknefs and candour with 
 your brother and fchool-fellows — even from your 
 fondnefs for your favourite dog Pompey, and fre- 
 quent filent contemplations of the etchings of his 
 countenance, I have drawn the mod pleating pre- 
 fages of purity and innocence of heart, fweetnefs 
 of temper, and refined honour and generofity. If 
 it pleafes God to (pare your life, and flrengthen 
 your conflrtution, I fhall ftiil be the happieft of 
 men, notwithstanding the inroad made upon my 
 feelings by the hardihips and afH!6lions I had un- 
 dergone, of which many arofe from unavoidable 
 accident, and fomej from malignant and unnatural 
 perfecution, aiifing from bale envy, dictated by 
 cowardly revenge. I do not wifh you to know 
 who the wretches are : I only wifh you to know 
 that fuch deteftable pauions do exifl in human na- 
 ture — that, warned by their wickednefs to me, you 
 
CONCLUSION. 4©5 
 
 way, in your progrefs through life, be cautious, 
 temperate and guarded. 
 
 Another thing I am anxious to imprefs upon the 
 mind, particularly, of your brother John, is the 
 danger of a warm, impetuous temper. Many of 
 the hazards and difficulties of my life arofe from 
 the predominance of a fiery fpirit, and an ungov- 
 ernable, miftaken ambition. A (ingle inftance will 
 ferve to {hew it. When I was under the com- 
 mand of Captain, afterwards General Mathews, 
 in his regiment of cavalry, being cantoned at a 
 place called Tuckolam, in the neighbourhood of 
 extenfive woods, information was brought us that 
 wild bulls infefted the neighbouring villages, and 
 had killed fome people : we prepared to enter the 
 wood, and deftroy, if pofiible, thefe ferocieus ani- 
 mals, which had become the terror and deftruft on 
 of the contiguous country. The origin of thofe 
 wild herds was this — From time immemorial, a re- 
 ligious cuftom had prevailed among the Pagan in- 
 habitants, of offering a calf to the wood upon the 
 accomplishment of any favourite purpofe, fuch as 
 the fafe delivery of his wife, or the obtaining an 
 employment, &c. In proceis of time, thofe calves 
 bred, and became numerous and incredibly fierce. 
 Independent of protecting the defencelefs natives, 
 it was in itlelf a mod interefling kind of hunting. 
 The mode of doing it was this — A large party, 
 well mounted, galloping in a body up to a great 
 flock, and maiking out the fierceft champion of 
 the whole, atcacked him with fwords and piftols. 
 One day, a bull which was wounded, and thereby 
 rendered more fierce, though not lefs vigorous, got 
 polled in lorne thick bullies, in fuch a manner as 
 to bi appioached only in front : a whim of the 
 moft extravagant kind came into my head, fuggeft- 
 ed by vain-glory and youthful fire — I thought it 
 ungenerous tor lo many to attack him at once ; and, 
 wiihing to have the credit of fubduing hina, I dif- 
 
406 CONCLUSION*. 
 
 mounted from my horfe, and attacked him with a 
 pike : I foon, however, had caufe to repent this 
 rafh and unwarrantable ftep ; it had nearly been 
 fatal to me — for the bull foon threw the pike into 
 the air, and, had it not been for the very gallant 
 exertions of my brother officers, who rode in upon 
 him, and refcued me at the moment that the brute's 
 horns had touched my coat, I mud have been kil- 
 led. An Indian officer, who was in my troop, 
 particularly diftinguiihed himfelf, at the imminent 
 hazard of his life, the bull having tofled his horfe 
 ami himfelf to a diftance from his horns. At this 
 time I was but eighteen years of age, and had not 
 the judgment to reflect, that if I had been killed, 
 my fate would be attended with only pity or fcorn 
 for my folly ; whereas, had I fucceeded, the whole 
 reward of my danger would have been the ufelefs 
 applaufe of lome ycungfters, idle and incenfiderate 
 as myfelf — while my rafhnefs would have been re- 
 probated by every man whofe good opinion was 
 worth enjoying. One or two people who were 
 prefent at the time, are now living in great repute 
 in England. We fucceeded, however, in driving* 
 thole wild cattle into the interior recefles of the 
 wood, dividing the flem of thofe we killed among 
 fuch of the poor Sepoys as would eat it, and there- 
 by rendered eflential fervice to the contiguous 
 villages. 
 
 Often when I have heard, in corTee-houfes and 
 play-houfes, fome of our fporting fpaiks beading 
 of their prowefs over a timid hare or a feeble fox, 
 I could not help recolltfting with refpeft the hun- 
 teis of India, who chaie the deftru&ive monfters 
 of the foreft — the boar, the tyger, the hyena, the 
 bull, or the buffalo ; and, while they fteel the 
 nerves, animate the courage, and, by habitual, deeds 
 of pith, fit themfelvcs for war, render cffential . 
 lervice to their fellow creatures, and fave the lives . 
 and property of thoulands. Such greatneis cf < pi- 
 
CONCLUSION. 407 
 
 rit, under the controul of good fenfe, and the di- 
 je£tion of prudence, mull tender a man refpe£table 
 — but, if not managed with difcretion, leaves a 
 man no other praile than that of a magnanimous 
 madman. Take every opportunity, my dear Fre- 
 derick, of inculcating thele precepts in the mind 
 of your brother : the natural warmth of his temper 
 often makes me fearful of the mifchievous confe- 
 rences which I have myfelf too often experienced 
 — though, I think God, it never ftimuiated me 
 to revenge, or to a premeditated intention of in- 
 juring any one. 
 
 I have already faid more than once, that I have 
 a mod perfect conviflion your amiable difpofition 
 will enlure to you the love of mankind ; but it 
 will at the fame time iubj:£t you to many impofui- 
 ons — to gaurd againtl which, a great fhare of ftern- 
 nefs is fometimes neceffary : there is, be fides, a 
 certain degree of fortitude absolutely requifne to 
 give luftre to a gentle difpofition ; without it, 
 meeknefs is thought timidity — modefty, weaknels 
 - — and the charming mildnefs of the forgiving heart, 
 abufed as the pitiful refource of abject apprehenfion 
 and a mean l'pirit. There are times, therefore, 
 when the wickednels of men, and the cuftoms of 
 the world, make it neceffary to lay afide the lamb, 
 and a flume the lion. Europe at this moment pre- 
 fents an awful and alarming cnfis. In a neighbour- 
 ing country, the conduct of the higher claries of 
 lociety has produced a dreadful convulfion : fecial 
 order has been fubverted, and the inability of pio- 
 perty annihilated : all reafoning from the hiftory 
 of former times is found inapplicable to the pre- 
 fent : the fyftem of warfare itielf has undergone a 
 revolution ; and no man is/able to fay from politive 
 t inference, '* Thus will it be to-morrow." Our 
 infular (ituation,. thank God ! protects us : and 
 the precarious footing upon which civil order and 
 property ftand in mod countries on the continent, 
 
4oS CONCLUSION. 
 
 make our flate in England enviable. The time is 
 neverthelefs pregnant with extraordinary event ; 
 and you are now approaching that age at which 
 men fhould be ready to act. at the call of their coun- 
 try. It is therefore fitting for you to make fuch 
 things the fubjecr, of frequent contemplation — to 
 habituate your mind to the meeting of danger, fo 
 as to be ready, at a moment's warning, to lay down 
 your life, if neccffary, for the good of your coun- 
 try ; for, after ail, my Frederick, what avails 
 it whether we die in this way or in that ? — to die 
 with honour and a good confeience, is all. Let 
 prejuuice be laid afide — and who, pofTeffed of com- 
 mon lenie, could hefilate a moment to prefer death 
 in the field s to death with the loathfome aggrava- 
 tion of fickneis, the crocodile tears of pretended 
 friends, and the painful emotions and lamentations 
 of thofe who really love us ? 
 
 Finally, I mutt obferve, that at the time I left In- 
 dia, the ?ffaus of the Britifh Nation wore fo very 
 lowering an e t, all perfons acquainted with our 
 concerns there, .'lowed nothing but a long feries 
 of wife meafurcs. with the beft efficient fervants to 
 execute them, could relcue the company from ruin. 
 I am happy in being ahle now to ftate, without 
 the pollibility cf contradiction, that the clouds 
 which menaced us in that quarter have fince been 
 gradually diflipating beneath the meafures of the 
 Board of Controul, under the direction of 
 Mr. Dundas ; and are at laft entirely difperfed 
 by the glorious adminiftration of Lord Cornwal- 
 lis, whofe wildom in the cabinet tended no lefs 
 to the fecurity, than his military talents, juftice 
 and moderation, to the honour, of Great Bri- 
 tain in the Eaft. The choice of fuch a perfon 
 fot the government of India, reflects credit on His 
 Majesty's Councils, and evinces that the pater- 
 nal care and folicitude of our amiable Sovereign 
 extend to the moll remote part of the Empire. 
 end oi PART III. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTER FROM GENERAL MATHEWS, 
 TO 
 
 THE COURT OF DIRECTORS OF THE 
 EAST INDIA COMPANY. 
 
 (referred to in the foregoing letters.) 
 
 Honourable Sirs, 
 
 X HAVE the honour of informing you of 
 ihe fuccefs of your arms on the Malabar coaft. 
 You will have received advices of the outfet of 
 the expedition from Bombay, and the general pur- 
 port of it. On the 12th of December, I failed 
 with a fmall party ; and thought proper, of my 
 own accord, to land at Rajamundroog, in prefer- 
 ence to any other place — becaufe, on this part of 
 the coaft I had the double advantage of being able 
 to fecure myfelf until reinforced, and to procure 
 provilions, which I could not have done at Cun- 
 dapore, or any place to the Couth ward, by reafon 
 of the numerous garrifons, and the vicinity of 
 them to the capital. The mcaiures and difpofiuons 
 of the gentlemen at Bombay were fuch, that I 
 could not place any dependence upon being timely 
 reinforced from thence, or of having any fupply 
 of provifions. Rajamundroog is on the top of a 
 
 M m 
 
4io APPENDIX. 
 
 high hill, and commands the entrance of the beft 
 river on the coaft. We took it by ftorm. The 
 moment we landed, a lhort time was taken up in 
 preparing to move towards Onore ; for we had not 
 a cooly, carriage, or bullock, to convey any ftores. 
 The battering cannon, ammunition, provifions, &c. 
 were fent by lea ; and the great additions that Hy- 
 der had made to the fortifications of Onore and 
 fortified Ifland, prevented my entering the river 
 with the fmall craft, and obliged me to land every 
 thing through a heavy furf on the beach, and then 
 to crofs the river to the northward of the fort. 
 Thefe impediments were got over ; and a practica- 
 ble breach being effected, the affault was made — 
 and the garrifon, confiding of two thoufand five 
 hundred men, were either killed, drowned, or 
 
 made prifcners. Shortly after this event, the 
 
 troops from the louihward, under Lieutenant Co- 
 lonel Macleod, were landed at Rajamundroog. 
 To wait tor a junction, would take up much time : 
 fo, that not a moment fhouid be loll, I embarked, 
 and landed near Cundapore, under the fire of the 
 Bombay Grab and the Intrepid, and immediately 
 feized a fmall fort that leived to iecuie our ftores. 
 The enemy were in fight, and ieemed numerous : 
 feme priloners that we tock, reckoned them at 
 twelve hundiea 1 orfe, ore thculand Sepoys, and 
 five hundred Peons. My party w as compofed of 
 three hundred ard fifty Europeans, fix hundred 
 Sepoys, and four in oil fieid-pieces — with which I 
 marched, hi ft. towards the enemy, who drew ba*ck, 
 and then I pioccec'ed to Curdapore. They incom- 
 moded my re3i very much ; hut beirg determined 
 to attack the fort, I only 8C~ted on the defenfive, 
 and at (even in the evening got polTeflion of the 
 foit, at d the- feveral redoubts that con manded the 
 liver. Tie grand object of the expedition, an at- 
 tack upon Bids u-mained to be undertaken; 
 and much feiious leflc&ion it icquiitd before the 
 
APPENDIX. 4*1 
 
 hazardous enterprize mould be determined on. — 
 Your Honours will now take a view of the flate 
 of my army : No carriage-bullock, and the few 
 draft not able to draw eight light field-pieces — not 
 a cooly to carry mufquet, ammunition or piovifions 
 — not a tent — and many officers, His Majesty's 
 in particular, had not a Tingle fervant — neither bul- 
 lock or fheep to be had, the enemy having drove 
 them off. The army, at this time, confided of 
 about eleven hundred effective Europeans, and 
 three thoufand Sepoys. The diftance from Cun- 
 dapore to the foot of the Ghaut is thirty miles, 
 through a woody country : the enemy's army had 
 been reinforced, and lay in the way. The reports 
 of the flrength of the Various works that defended 
 the pafs up the mountains, was fuch as gave me 
 but very faint hope of fuccefs ; and the difficulty 
 of fupplving my troops with rice, was almoft of 
 itfelf fufficient to deter a perfon from the attempt. 
 However, having pofitive orders to take poffeffion 
 of Bidanore, 1 lefolved to make a trial, and iffued 
 dirc&ions for the march. We had not gone fix 
 miles, before the enemy oppofed us in force. We 
 pufhed forwards ; and, by the effect of well ferved 
 artillery, and the fl^adinefs of the men, the enemy 
 retired as we advanced. The fkirmifh continued 
 about three hours — after which we were left to 
 purfue our route unmolefted ; nor did the enemy 
 make any ftand till we were on the fourth day's 
 march, within three miles of the pais — where, the 
 ground being favourable, they attempted oppofi- 
 tion, and were roughly treated, lofing. by the bay- 
 onet and (hot, above three hundred men. They 
 were purfued to a fmall fort, which was immedi- 
 ately abandoned ; and then fled to the firft barrier 
 or entrance of the pafs. This was a line of ma- 
 fonry th<it covered all the open ground, and was 
 doled by woods to the right and left. Upon fix 
 baftlons were mounted fifteen pieces of cannon ; 
 
412 APPENDIX. 
 
 and on the left was a work on a deep mountain, 
 with two twelve pounders. This altogether had 
 too formidable an appearance to attack in front ; 
 but having reconnoitred the right, I imagined that 
 the flank might be turned by afcending the- hill 
 through the wood. Early in the morning, two* 
 parties were formed — one to attempt the flank, the 
 other to efcalade the wall ; but the enemy faved us 
 that trouble by evacuating the place. This was a 
 happy moment to try the pafs ; for the enemy, by 
 felling trees, &c. would have thrown fo many ob- 
 ftacles in the way, that the want of provifion would 
 have compelled me to relinquifh the defign. A 
 party was inflantly ordered to follow the enemy up 
 the hill, which, with little lofs, gained the fecond 
 barrier, on which were mounted eleven guns. 
 Fifty of the enemy were killed or taken at this 
 work. Having this fuccefs, I relieved the ex- 
 haufted by frefh detachments, which excited emu- 
 lation, and encouraged the ardour of the Sepoys ; 
 for, to the unremitting exertions of this branch of 
 your troops is due the honour of this day. Battery 
 after battery was taken ; and the pofFeflion of the 
 fort on the top of the Ghaut, about five in the 
 afternoon, called Hyderghur, crowned the whole. 
 At this fort we found mounted thirty pieces of 
 cannon, from twenty-four to four pounders ; and 
 at the different works in the pafs, forty others, 
 from four to twelve. ' 
 
 When we contemplated the numerous redoubts 
 and the height of the Ghaut, and were told by pri- 
 foners that we had drove off feventeen thoufand men, 
 including difmountecf cavalry, regular Sepoys, and 
 match-lock Peons, we could not confider the vic- 
 tory we had gained as due to us — our weak efforts 
 would have been in vain. The progrefs of your 
 arms is to be afcribed to the Divine will. In the 
 courfe of this war, Providence has been peculiarly 
 bountiful — When we were in want of rice, we 
 
APPENDIX. 413 
 
 were fure to find a fupply left for our ufe by the 
 enemy — when our mulquet-ammunition was ex- 
 pended, the enemy's magazines furnifhed us abun- 
 dantly — cannon we found in every fort, and fuch 
 quantities of wailike (tores, that we are apt to fup- 
 pofe that Hyder lupplied all his garrifons from this 
 coaft and from Bidanore. Hyderghur is about four- 
 teen miles from Hydernagur, alias Bidanore, the 
 capital of the Province. 
 
 In the night of the day that we gained the Ghaut, 
 I was viliied by Captain Donald Campbell, the 
 fon of Colonel Charles Campbell. He had 
 been wrecked off the coaft, was leiz^d, and kept 
 in irons, until the approach of this army caufed the 
 Jemadar to releale him, to employ him as an Am- 
 bafiidor. His mcffige was, that the Jemadar hav- 
 ing loft his Mafter (Hyder), and being upon bad 
 t;ims with Tippoo Sahib, would willingly put 
 himfelf under the protection of the Company, pro- 
 vided that the management of the country was con- 
 tinued to him. The idea of getting poflefaon of 
 the capital and the forts of the kingdom towards 
 Seringapatam, as well as the vciy great advantage I 
 might expe£t from his experience, abilities and in- 
 fluence, with the weak llale of my army, induced 
 me to clofe with the propofal ; and I lent him a 
 cowl, fignifying that his power and inUuenee fhould 
 fiat be leiTcned. This, tho' not drawn with a pen 
 of a lawyer, was equal in value to t. 5 capital of 
 Bidanoie. Captain Campbell resumed with it, 
 and was to tell the Jemadar that I fhould march in 
 the morning. 
 
 Not expecting the great fuccefs that we had met 
 with by forcing the pafs on the main road, 1 
 detached lieutenant- Colonel Macleod to the. Km: 
 to alcend the Ghaut through a narrow path, in or- 
 der to attack Hyderghur in the I'ealr. The abfence 
 cf this detachment, and the fatigue of the former 
 day, reduced my party to about lour hund.ed ivu 
 M m 2 
 
4*4 APPENDIX, 
 
 ropeans and feven hundred Sepoys ; and all my 
 guns were at the bottom of the Ghaut. With this 
 detachment I moved towards Bidanore, and was 
 within a mile of the walls before any melTage came 
 from Captain Campbell or the Jemadar : but hav- 
 ing nothing to apprehend in the field from the pa- 
 nic-ftruck ■ enemy, we continued our march until 
 the welcome approach of Captain Campbell affur- 
 ed me the place was our own. On entering it, I 
 was plcaled to lee about four hundred of your Sepoys 
 that had been taken in the Carnatic, who offered 
 me their fervice. Upon vifiting the Jemadar, I re- 
 peated mv nffurances, that while he behaved faith- 
 fully to the Company, the management of the coun- 
 try fnould be continued to him ; and, although the 
 (word mull be in your hands, that he fhould have 
 as much power and influence as his ftaiion r< quired 
 arid that you would no: refuie feitling upon him ve- 
 ry ample allowances. The enemy being in force, ?nd 
 my army much weakened, with other difagreeablc 
 matters* that occured, prevented my further advance 
 than to take pofieilkm of two forts to the Eaftward; 
 for, being apprehenfive that the Kiilidar or Ivianga- 
 lore would not deliver up that place to the order 
 of Hyat Sahib, and conhd-ering that famous lea- 
 port of more conlequence to your affairs th.3n ac- 
 quiring territory beyond the mountains, I held my- 
 lelf in readinefs to march that way, and was forced 
 to lay fiege to it. A practicable breach bring made, 
 the K'.llidsr thought piv.per to furrenuer it. Upon 
 this happy event give me leave to congratulate you ; 
 for it partly fecuves our conqueils from Carwar to 
 Cdnancre. There are two or three places that I 
 have not been able to fummons ; but as theie g_ai 
 ons cannot expect any iuccour, they will iaii of 
 couvle. 
 
 lis have I g : vcn your honours r fnort recital, 
 from the fir ft landing of your arms on the 12 h of 
 DwQficnbei, to the redu&ion of Mangalore on the 5th 
 
APPENDIX. 415 
 
 of March ; in which fhort time a Ceries of fuccefs 
 has attended us that can hardly be paralleled. All 
 the enemy's marine ha« fallen in our hands, among 
 which are eight {hips of the line, either built or 
 on the flocks ; and five of them might be lent to 
 fea in a fhort time. After informing you of the 
 happy and glorious fucceis of your arms, it is pain- 
 ful for me to tell you, that diffention in the ar- 
 my, on account of plunder and booty, has ari fen 
 to tuch a height as to threaten open mutiny. I 
 have informed your Honours of the terms that the 
 Jemadar required, and that I in your name granted ; 
 and you know in how peacabie a manner this cioital, 
 was refigned to you. I am forry to lay, that His 
 Majesty's officers have been foremoft in the cla- 
 mours ; and that the agents appointed by them have 
 occj Honed me mucn trouble and anxietv. and a 
 great deal of discontent throughout the army. I 
 ihall lend you copies of the ieveral letters that hive 
 p-iiTed, for your determination. They may fup- 
 poie that I have ap«bpriatcd trealure to my own 
 ule, or bargained to reitore the private property of 
 the Jemadar to him ; or that I fhould agree that he 
 inould call ail trealure and jewels his private pro- 
 perty* to the excluhon of what of light fhouid be- 
 long to the Honourable Company or the captors. 
 I have only to allure your Honours, that I have 
 made no bargain whatever, either public or piivate, 
 but what was expreiled in the cowl lent from Hy- 
 derghur, to which Captain Campbell was wit- 
 nefs : and as I have fjcqucntiy mentioned to my 
 friends, that I would not receive a prelent of con- 
 iequence without the content of the Honojiaoie 
 MBpany, I fhail inform you. that en my fit it viiit 
 t-e Jemadar infilled on making me a prelent of a 
 lac < of rupees ; and when he pieaied to give a du- 
 ration to the army of two lacks and thirty thouund 
 of rupees, which ium waits your plealure, he re- 
 queued i would accept of ano'.her lack of rupees, 
 
416 APPENDIX. 
 
 To both of thefe vequefts refpe&ing myfelf, I re- 
 plied, that provided your Honours would give me 
 leave, I fhould certainly embrace that fortunate 
 moment to gain an independence, and fhall wait 
 your orders as to the diipofal of two lacks of ru- 
 pees. How far my former and the preient fervi- 
 ces may entitle me to your good . pinion, and to 
 your acquiefcence in thus rewarding me, is left to 
 ihe generofiiy of your Honours : but I beg that 
 you will believe, that during the coiirfe of my fer- 
 vices, every thing of a fimiiiar nature fhali be laid 
 before you. 
 
 If it were poflible to fatisfy the avidity of a body 
 of n>?n, this little armv would have a (ufEency of 
 honour and pre fit to fill the mod greedy ; but the 
 infirmities of nature are not to be controuled by 
 reafon. Avatice of the m< ft pernicious tendency 
 has pervaded the limits of lenle, and flopped be- 
 yond the bounds of duty. The army, not content 
 with acq filing, at the different places, that has 
 been taken on the coaft ujpftiips of war, naval 
 flores, merchandize, &c. Sec. arid in goous of va- 
 rious kinds at Bidanore, which altogether the Je- 
 lmcar fays may be valued at thirty lacks of pago- 
 das ; they feek to deprive the Jemadar of his pri- 
 vate property, under pretence of the lawful rights 
 of war ; and aiTume a flyle and manner in their 
 clamours and united addiefles, that appears inten- 
 ded to force from ine what I think ought to be 
 preferved for the public fervicc, and for the benefit 
 of the Honourable Company. The manner that 
 the fort and city was delivered to the company, 
 does not authorise me to touch private property ; 
 find the cowl implies a pcrfe£t fecurtiy for all iuch. 
 Would your honours be plealed, that by any rapa- 
 cious action of your Commander in Chief, that he 
 or the troops fhould forfeit the good opinion 
 thai may be entertained of them from their rapid 
 iuccefs, or that the public fervtce fnould be con- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 4*7 
 
 fidered as a fecondary object ? Our name has fallen 
 almoft to contempt , but, as far as lays in my pow- 
 er, it fhall be recovered, if not railed to its former 
 fminence. 
 
 Mangalore, March 16, 1783. 
 
• V 
 
 I 
 
/ 
 
''•.■••- 
 
 mm. 
 
 #:■ 
 
 ■:>■•',' HB -