goddess of fire, by which was probably meant heat; for the ancients did not understand the true distinction between heat and light, but often spoke of them together as one element. Vesta was drawn in a car by lions; which may sign.ty that she presided over quadrupeds, because they are peculiar to the earth, and the lion is the chief of them.

"Mars, the god of war, represented the upper part of the arm, which is the part from whence proceeds the effort of throwing a spear, or slinging a stone, or striking. This deity, most abstractly, represented the beginning of violent motion, from whence collision.

"Venus represented the capacity for generation, and presided over increase. She was the goddess of beauty, because all continuous beauty in outlines is from the unequal increase of quantities, or the unequal diminution of quantities on the opposite side, which is the same negatively. Hesiod says she was accompanied by Eros, and followed by Himeros, or Desire; which last was her offspring.

Τῆ δ ̓ Ερος ωμάρτησε, και "Ιμερος έσπετο καλὸς

Γεινομένη τὰ πρῶτα.

But, according to the same authority, the first appearance of Eros, or love, was immediately after the birth of Earth from Chaos.

"Ceres represented the belly, or the powers of nutrition, and therefore presided over agriculture.

"Minerva represented the part of the arm between the elbow and hand. Like Mars, she was a warlike deity, but she was also the goddess of reason, that is, not of intellect, like Neptune, but of the active power of inferring and judging, and of the knowledge of tendency, or whitherwards. She likewise presided over weaving and spinning. The owl was sacred to her, because she was the goddess of speculative vision, or what the Greeks called

is, the knowledge of boundary, but without sensation.

"Mercury represented the hand, and was the god of thieves. He presided over traffic, which is giving and receiving; and one of his attributes was the purse. He was the god of wrestlers, from grasping. His statue was placed at the meeting of roads, from pointing. He was called the inventor of the lyre, because it was played upon by the hand; and therefore, although Apollo was the god of harmony, Mercury presided over practical skill in music. He was the god of eloquence, probably from gesture in arguing and persuading. And, as the hand is the most moveable part, he was considered in general as the deity who presided over ingenuity, cleverness, and rapidity of apprehension."

The art of bookmaking flourishes on both sides of the Channel. The narrative of the wreck of a French merchant ship on the coast of Africa, -the captivity of part of the crew who yielded to the empressemens of some of the wandering Arabs, who are always on the watch for sea mercies, and who, after kindly inviting them to land, seized their persons, and plundered their ship-and their subsequent adventures till ransomed by the Consul at Magadore, is dilated into two goodly 8vo volumes, adorned with lithographic engravings, and accompanied with an appendix of pieces justificatifs.

The work, however, is not without interest; it is written in an easy flowing style, and if it communicates nothing new, it at least gives a lively picture of that small portion of Africa through which our author and his companions passed, and of the manners of the Moors and wandering Arabs of the desert.

Mais commencer avec le commencement,-the book is the production of M. Charles Cochelet, a passenger in the brig Sophie, going out "former un etablissement agricole," or in other words, to settle in Brazil.

The Sophie sailed from Nantes on

6

the 14th of May, 1819, and on the 13th of the same month, was wrecked about twenty leagues to the north of Cape Bojodore. The ship, it seems, was carried out of her course by the currents, which, as is well known, set to the eastward along the African coast, and which M. Cochelet thinks, it is high time were put an end to; "ne doit on pas esperer que les autorités maritimes prendront enfin des mesures propres a prevenir ces accidens." We fear it will not be easy to prevent such accidents in ships managed like the Meduse frigate, or the brig Sophie.

The Captain wished first to make Madeira, and then the Canary Islands, for the purpose of correcting his longitude, but missed them both; when abreast of the latter islands, however, he had a good observation for the latitude, and as no land was in sight, he ought in common prudence to have stood to the westward. On the 29th, they were, by observation, in lat. 27°. 4; and on the evening of the same day, land was seen about eight leagues to the east; but still, with inconceivable infatuation, the course was not altered. M. Cochelet very properly remarks, il eut eté prudent a mon avis de virer de bord;" but this opinion he kept to himself, "retenu par un sentiment d'amour propre qui m' empecha de' temoigner une frayeur a laquelle d'autres pouvaient bien n'etre pas accessibles." At length about half past three in the morning of the 30th, the ship struck. The coolness and dis cipline of the crew are thus narrated:

66

"The moon set about 40 minutes past three in the morning, and in less than an hour, the sun would have shewn us our situation; the sea, which till then had been smooth, and often calm, began to be agitated by a strong breeze from the north;

all at once a violent shock was felt. The

ship struck at the heel, and beat upon the rocks, avec un fracas epouvantable. M. Mexia exclaimed, We are lost.' I sprung from my cabin. We threw ourselves into each other's arms, and each endeavoured to inspire the other with resignation; but how difficult the task to possess it in so dreadful a situation, when numbers at the same

instant behold their end approaching, and expressed by the signs of despair, the abandonment of every earthly affection! I went upon deck, and in the midst of consternation and tumult, heard nothing but cries of take in sail hoist out the boat.' I asked the terrified captain, what he thought of this frightful event. What can I think?' he replied; I know no more

·

I can see no

than you do where we are. thing. In the mean time, the ship, impelled by the force of the wind, was driven farther upon the shoal, experiencing, every time she struck, a shock which endangered the masts. A thick fog surrounded us and obscured our view of the land; a feeble twilight shewed it indistinctly; and from the configuration of the clouds, we imagined ourselves in a gulph, surrounded on all sides by immense rocks. At length the ship became completely fixed, and experienced no other motion than that produced by the sea beating upon her. In an instant the sails were furled, and we succeeded, by unheard-of efforts, in getting the long boat into the sea. An anchor was carried out to the north-west, but all our attempts to heave the ship off were in vain ; our misfortune was irreparable, and as the day dawned, the horrors of our situation were revealed to us. It was not in the midst of islands, as we believed, that cruel destiny had thrown us. A flat sandy beach, without bounds, presented itself to our view-it was on the main land-on Africa -on that inhospitable and barren coast, that has always been the terror of mariners.

"It would be impossible to paint the What fate awaited us on this detested regrief that took possession of each of us. gion."

The conduct of the officers under these circumstances, was not less extraordinary. We are not told that any attempt was made to lighten the ship; they suffered themselves to fall into the power of the natives, although the weather continued moderate, and their boat was riding safely by a hauser in the lee of the vessel; the whole crew only consisted of thirteen, and they knew that the Canary islands could not be more than twenty or thirty leagues distant.

After passing to and fro several times between the ship and the shore, the natives got possession of the offisix persons. The sailors, with greater cers, passengers, and one sailor, in all, prudence, kept on board, and, after a feeble attempt to rescue their superiors, set sail, and, in two days, made the island Fortaventura. M. Cochelet and his friends took care to land their trunks and luggage, intending, no doubt, to proceed by the diligence, but the natives very unceremoniously took possession of their goods and chattels, and obliged them to assist in unloading their ship, which they did very leisurely, and then burnt her. The savages into whose hands they had thus fallen, are represented as the most hideous monsters that exist in human shape, and as the last link in

the chain that connects man with the brute creation.

On their landing, their chief, named Fairry, gave them a most gracious reception, holding out one hand, in token of friendship, and with the other pointing to heaven, and repeat ing "Allah akbar," ," "God is great." He then led them to a sand hill, kindly offering to carry their arms, and shewed them the desert, with the purpose, no doubt, of letting them know how entirely they were in his power.

"If this was his object, he accomplished it completely; for it was impossible for me to observe without dismay this sea of sand, the horizon of which mingled itself with a sky of fire; and the calm and silent immobility of which was a thousand times more striking than the agitation of the ocean during a tempest."

The politeness of the natives was soon changed for the most capricious tyranny and contempt. By the women, in particular, they were obliged to perform the most abject officesprepare their food, of which they did not deign to give them a share, or dig in the sand for a scanty pittance of brakish water.

Our author was sent off to the ship to assist in searching for argeono, or money. It was in vain to intimate that he could not swim-prompt obedience was necessary, and he contrived, with some difficulty, to get on board.

to them, for they appeared to take a pleasure in it, which they expressed by shouts of laughter, of the coarsest and most insulting nature that can be imagined.”

The most unreasonable of all their demands, however, was in sending them aloft to unbend the top-sails. The only expedient that occurred to them, to enable them to obey this command, was to cut away the masts.

"During more than two hours, we applied the axe with redoubled force. They gave way at last, but with such a crash, that I was struck with the effect produced by the noise of their fall, reiterated as it was, for a long time, among the hillocks of sand, by echoes, of which perhaps, till then, they were unconscious. For the first time, without doubt, the silence of many ages had been disturbed. So violent and transient a commotion, rendered more dreadful still the calm by which it was succeeded, and with which this frightful desert was reinvested, perhaps for ever."

For about ten days they were employed in plunder. The natives shew. ed the most astonishing want of discrimination in their selection of the booty. Money and provisions were the great objects of their aviditybuttons were more valued than diamonds-the finest laces lay neglected on the beach, or were used to tie the mouths of sacks-but, above all, to a literary man, the dispersion of so many works of merit, was most afflicting.

will be for ever deprived of readers! I "How many copies of works of merit have seen thousands of volumes, containing the most opposite sentiments, borne equally by the wind into the interior of the desert."

Letters and newspapers were equalscattered; the touching remem brance called up by one of the latter, we shall not attempt to translate.

"L'autre rendait compte de la belle representation d'Athalie, que recemment on venait de donner avec tant de pompe à l' opera. Je me rappelai avec douleur, qu'un mois s'etait a peine ecoulé depuis que moi meme j'avais assisté a ce spectacle, dont j'avois admiré la magnificence. Que de reflexions vinrent alors m'assailir! Je jetai tristement ces feuilles a mes pieds, elles me causaient trop de regrets, par les souvenirs qu'elles me retracoient,"

In the midst of these melancholy reflexions the captain came up with a face of satisfaction, announcing the apparition of two " jolies Parisiennes,"

pavilion, propped against them, is situated towards the north, opposite the governor's palace. A single inclosure of walls surrounds the palace, and the garden separates them from the town, and serves them for a rampart. In one of the towers, raised at certain distances on the walls, was seen a piece of ordnance. It appeared to be intended, in time of war, for driving away an enemy who might be tempted to approach the town on the side of the pavilion.

"This pavilion, composed of five rooms, the largest of which is in the middle of the other four, is remarkable for its commodious arrangement, and the elegance of its decorations. It has three entrances: the principal one, facing the avenue of orange trees, is fronted by a terrace and a gallery which has three openings arched above. The two others are on the right and left of the building. Nothing can be imagined richer than the ornaments of the principal division, though it had been stript of its state, and of the furniture which embellished it during the abode of the Sultan. The ceiling of wood, painted of different colours, and in imitation of a tent, particularly attracted my notice, from the skill displayed in the work. A crown of gilded suns, fixed on the wall, and much resembling stucco, formed the elegant border which encompassed the room at the top, immediately under the ceiling, and the floor of the chamber was a sort of Mosaic, composed of an immense number of polished stones of different colours. The doors, although defaced by age, still shone with gilding, which was well preserved. An immense orange tree, and a date tree, loaded with fruit, reached the terrace contiguous to the building, and mingled their foliage with the green tiles which covered it."

Nothing was wanting to their satisfaction here but a change of clothes and clean linen, a luxury they had not enjoyed since their shipwreck; they were consequently covered with rags and vermin. In this state they proceeded to Magadore, where they arrived on the 13th of October. Their delight on beholding the town and shipping could only be equalled by meeting a person in the European

dress.

"In a moment, without asking any information, without demanding either his rank or his name, we stretched out our arms towards him, well satisfied that the first European who offered himself to our view could not but be a brother, sensible of our misfortunes. We mingled our embraces, without having, at first, the power to pronounce a single word; and the emotion of that Christian, more than his words, announced to us that we held in our embrace M. Casaccia."

How Mr Casaccia received such an embrace before their toilet was made, we are not informed.

We shall not detain our readers with their succeeding adventures, nor with Mr Cochelet's remarks on the present state of Morocco, which contain little either of importance or novelty; but as every visitor to Africa is expected to clear up some of the mysteries respecting the interior of that vast continent, we cannot pass over the "Nouveaux renseign mens sur la ville de Timectou," so pompously announced in the titlea Moorish merchant arrived from Tompage. During their stay at Wednoon, buctoo, or Timectou, as our author chooses to spell it, and he endeavoured to acquire some information from him concerning it; but it seems the Moor told so many lies, and exaggerated so much, that no reliance could be placed on his account. Hamar, a Moorish servant of his master the Cheik Berouc, observing his anxiety, told him, he had visited that city, and on this hearwas acquainted with a merchant who say account he affects to doubt of the reality of the visits made by Robert Adams or Sidi Hamet to Tombuctoo.

The account given by Hamar is, that, about seven years before, a merchant of Rabat proposed to him to accompany him to Tombuctoo, which Hamar agreed to; but on their arrival at Wednoon, the intelligence that a caravan had perished in the desert, deterred him from proceeding; but Sidi Mahommed, his companion, went on, and on his return informed him, that, after suffering great hardships, he arrived on the fortieth day after his departure from Wednoon at Taudeny, a town inhabited partly by Negroes and partly by Arabs. After staying there some time, he quitted it, and in fifteen days more, reached Tombuctoo, a city about three times the size of Fez, (which, we are told in a note, contains about 90,000 inhabitants.) At the period of their arrival they had only quitted the desert four days. The first appearance of the city, situated in an immense plain, was very striking, and its extent greatly surpassed the expectation of Sidi Mahommed. The gates were shut when the caravan arrived, but on the sentry firing off his musket, a guard of about a hundred Negroes armed with darts, daggers, and some muskets, came out from the city and pointed out a place for them