E 2 2 2 BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS. BIRTHS. September 26. At Gouyave, in the island of Granada, the lady of Dr Henry Palmer, a daughter. November 24. At Trinity Cottage, the lady of Lieut. John Mitchell, R.N. a daughter. 27. At London, the lady of Henry Brougham, Esq. of Brougham, M. P. a daughter. 28. At Shandwick-place, Edinburgh, Mrs Miller of Glenlee, a son. 29. At Wellshot, the lady of Captain William Stirling, a son. December 1. In Heriot-row, Edinburgh, the lady of Edward Douglas, Esq. a son. -At Bologne, the lady of Lieutenant-Colonel Maclachlan, a son. 2. At the Hague, the Countess of Athlone, a daughter. 3. In George's-square, Edinburgh, Mrs W. Mitchell, a daughter. The lady of William Hay, Esq. of Drummelzier, a son and heir. 4. At Newington, Edinburgh, Mrs Blackwood, Mrs Abercromby, 19, York-place, a daughter. 12. At Edinburgh, Mrs Laing Meason of Lindertis, a son. - At Clifford, Essex, the lady of LieutenantColonel Allan, a daughter. 13. At Balbegno Castle, the lady of Captain Ramsay, a daughter. 14. At Edinburgh, Mrs W. Anderson, No 12, Brown's-square, a daughter. 15. Mrs James Campbell, Northumberland-street Edinburgh, a daughter. -At Dunsmane, the lady of J. M. Nairne, Esq. a daughter. -At Leith, Mrs Smith, Water-lane, a son. 16. Mrs Waugh, Minto-street, Newington, a son. 17. At the Mount, near Harrow, the lady of Archibald Campbell, Esq. a son. 19. At Merchiston Castle, Mrs Fordyce of Ayton, 480 Register.-Marriages and Deaths. MARRIAGES. July 20. At Madras, Peter Cleghorn, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, to Isabella, daughter of the late Thomas Allan, Esq. merchant in Leith. Nov. 26. At Edinburgh, Mr James Winks, Pittstreet, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Mr John Brodie, farmer, Coathill, Berwickshire. 29. At Glasgow, Mr J. Gilchrist, surgeon, to Eliza, only child of the late William Rymer of Tortola. 30. At Springfield, Captain Robert Scott, Hon. East India Company's service, to Mrs Rolland of Auchmithie. -At Glasgow, Mr John M'K. Wardrop, merchant, to Jane, daughter of the late Adam Lightbody, Esq. of Hurlet. Dec. 6. At Gosport, Lieutenant W. C. Clarke, of the rifle-brigade, to Mary Gavin, fourth daughter of the late Lieutenant-Colonel M'Lean. 14. At Greenock, Mr John M'Kinlay, writer, Stirling, to Eliza, eldest daughter of Mr William Baird, shipmaster. 16. At Glasgow, Major M'Gregor, of the 58th regiment, to Spens Stuart, daughter of Robert Colfier, Esq. Barrack-master of Glasgow. -At Glasgow, Captain D. Campbell, of the late 94th regiment, to Agnes, youngest daughter of the late A. Pollock, of Whitehall, Esq. 17. In St Paul's Chapel, York-place, Colonel Farquharson, to Rebecca, fourth daughter of the late Sir George Colquhoun of Tillycolquhoun, Bart. At Meadow-place, Mr James Scott, tobacconist, Hawick, to Margaret, daughter of Mr James Oliver, merchant, there. 19. At Senwick, near Kirkcudbright, the house of Sir John Gordon, Bart. Major-General Riall, governor of Grenada, to Eliza, eldest daughter of the late James Scarlett, Esq. junior, of Peru, in the island of Jamaica. 23. At Bellwood, Andrew Forbes Ramsay, Esq. surgeon in the Honourable East India Company's service, Bengal establishment, to Isabella, fourth daughter of the late John Young, Esq. of Bellwood. Lately, At Laurieston-place, Edinburgh, William Gordon, Esq. of Ivie, to Miss Christina, daughter of Mr George Murray, merchant. DEATHS. April 16. In Calcutta, James Wade, Esq. September 24. At Kingston, Jamaica, Major Oct. 11. Near Three Rivers, Canada, John Campbell, Esq. late of Auchinwillin. 23. Of a fever, at Gibsonport, on the Mississippi, Mr Simon Fraser, son of the late Alexander Fraser, Esq. sheriff-clerk of Haddingtonshire. Nov. 11. At Ruchill, Mrs Maclean, wife of Hugh 14. At West Bendochy, Perthshire, George Play- -At Aberdeen, Henry, fifth son, and on the 23d, Alexander, fourth son of Alexander Foulerton, Esq. 21. At Barrochan, Malcolm Fleming, Esq. of Barrochan. 24. At Kidderminster, John Steed, Esq. Leith At Lower, Patrick Carnegy, Esq. of Lower. 25. At Falkirk, aged 74, Mr James Bathgate, son of the late Rev. James Bathgate, minister of Dalgetty. 27. At Preston, Linlithgowshire, Archibald Seaton, third son of Dr Seaton, aged nine years. - At Greenock, Mr Peter Christie, sen. late of the Excise, Anstruther, in the 82d year of his age. 28. At Edinburgh, Miss Ann Watson, youngest daughter of the late Dr Watson, Principal of the United College of St Andrews. -At his house, Heriot Hill, Alexander Kinnear, Esq. banker in Edinburgh. -At Kelso, Mrs Margaret Robertson, relict of Andrew Robertson, Esq. of Calcutta. 29. At Leith, Agnes Paterson, wife of Mr Robert Strong, jun. merchant. - At Dundee, Mr W. C. Pitcairn, merchant. Mary, and on the 7th December, John and Isabella, children of Mrs Kinnimont, at Cotton of Redcastle, Inverkeillor, all of the scarlet fever. -At the Manse of Latheron, the Rev. Robert Gun, minister of that parish, in the 70th year of his age, and 44th of his ministry. 30. At Edinburgh, Mrs Cowan, senior, widow of Charles Cowan, Esq. merchant in Edinburgh. December 1. At Manley, Devonshire, Heary Manley, Esq. of Manley. 6. At Aberdeen, Peter Gordon, Esq. of Abergeldie, aged 68. 7. At Montrose, Alexander Craigie, seaman, in the 93d year of his age. 9. At Bath, James Ker of Blackshiells, Esq. 11. At Arbroath, after a short illness, Captain David L. Cargill, of the Romulus. - At Acton House, Middlesex, John Dalzell Douglas, youngest son of Henry Alexander Douglas, Esq. 13. At No 1, Great King-street, Edinburgh, Mr William Pringle, assistant-surgeon, royal navy, only son of Mr T. Pringle, builder. At Dundee, John Guild, Esq. in the 77th year of his age, late Provost of that burgh. - At Dumfries, William Heron, Esq. of Dun COW. 14. At Kelso, Elizabeth, second daughter of the late Stephen Bromfield, Esq. of Hassington Mains, and sister of Colonel Broomfield. 15. At Kinsale, at an advanced age, Lady Kinsale. At Bath, aged 90, Mrs Cradock, relict of Dr Cradock, late Archbishop of Dublin, and mother of Lord Howden. 16. At Spoutwells, James Buchan, Esq. late of Huntingtower. -At his house, 118, Prince's-street, Edinburgh, Robert Fullarton, Esq. 17. At his house, 14, Hart-street, Edinburgh, James Stuart, Esq. late of the island of Grenada. - At Edinburgh, Mr John Black, writer, late rector of the Fortrose Academy. 18. At Edinburgh, Miss Christian Rutherford, youngest daughter of the deceased Dr John Rutherford, Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Edinburgh. 19. At Wigton, David Tweddale, aged 17, son of James Tweddale, Collector of the Customs. -At St Andrews, the Rev. Principal Hill. 20. At his house, Lauriston-place, Mr John Martin, of the Chancery Office, Edinburgh. 21. At Lauriston-place, in the 7th year of his age, Alexander John, only son of John Cameron, hat-manufacturer in Edinburgh. At Edinburgh, Mrs Alice Plenderleath, relict of the late James Grant, Esq. merchant in Edinburgh. Lately, At her seat, Charlton House, near Malmesbury, aged 82, the Countess of Suffolk. At Crail, William Macdonald Fowler, Esq. writer in Edinburgh. - At Montrose, Miss Margaret Choplin, daugh ter of the Rev. Mr Choplin of Kinnell." -At her house in Castle-street, Edinburgh, Mrs Mure, widow of the late William Mure, Esq. of Caldwell, one of the Barons of his Majesty's Exchequer in Scotland. -At Chichester, Vice-Admiral Thomas Sur ridge, aged 72. Oliver & Boyd, Printers, Edinburgh Or the language of Spain, as it existed under the reign of the Visigoth kings, we possess no monuments.The laws and the chronicles of the period were equally written in Latinand although both, in all probability, must have been frequently rendered into more vulgar dialects for the use of those whose business it was to understand them, no traces of any such versions have survived the many storms and struggles of religious and political dissention of which this interesting region has since been made the scene. To what exact extent, therefore, the language and literature of the peninsula felt the influence of that great revolution which subjected the far greater part of her territory to the sway of a mussulman sceptre-and how much or how little of what we at this hour admire or condemn in the poetry of Portugal, Arragon, Castille, is really not of Spanish but of Moorish origin-these are matters which have divided all the great writers of literary history, and which we, in truth, have little chance of ever seeing accurately or completely decided.No one, however, who considers of what elements the Christian population of Spain was originally composed -and in what shapes the mind of nations, every way kindred to that population, was expressed during the middle ages-can have any doubt that some influence, and that no inconsiVOL. VI. derable one neither, was exerted over the whole world of Spanish thought and feeling-and, therefore, over the whole world of Spanish language and poetry-by the influx of those oriental tribes that occupied, for seven long centuries, the fairest provinces of the peninsula. Spain, although of all the provinces which owned the authority of the Caliphs she was the most remote from the seat of their empire, appears to have been the first in point of civilization; her governors having, for at least two centuries, emulated one another in affording every species of encouragement and protection to all those liberal arts and sciences which first flourished at Bagdad under the sway of Haroon Alraschid, and his less celebrated, but, perhaps, still more enlightened son Al-mamoun.Beneath the wise and munificent patronage of these rulers, the cities of Spain, within three hundred years after the defeat of king Roderick, had been everywhere penetrated with a spirit of elegance, tastefulness, and philosophy, which afforded the strongest of all possible contrasts to the contemporary condition of the other kingdoms of Europe. At Cordova, Granada, Seville, and many now less considerable towns, colleges and libraries had been founded and endowed in the most splendid manner-where the most exact and the 3 P r most elegant of sciences were cultivated together with equal zeal. Averroes translated and expounded Aristotle at Cordova: Ben-Zaid and AboulMander wrote histories of their nation at Valencia ;-Abdel-Maluk set the first example of that most interesting and useful species of writing by which Moreri and others have since rendered services so important to ourselves; and an Arabian Encyclopædia was compiled under the direction of the great Mohammed-Aba-Abdallah at Grenada. Ibn-el-Beither went forth from Malaga to search through all the mountains and plains of Europe for every thing that might enable him to perfect his favourite sciences of botany and lithology, and his works still remain to excite the admiration of all that are in a condition to comprehend their value. The Jew of Tudela was the worthy successor of Galen and Hippocrates while chemistry, and other branches of medical science, almost unknown to the ancients, received their first astonishing developements from Al-Rasi and Avicenna. Rhetoric and poetry were not less diligently studied-and, in a word-it would be difficult to point out, in the whole history of the world, a time or a country where the activity of the human intellect was more extensively or usefully or gracefully exerted, than in Spain, while the Mussulman sceptre yet retained any portion of that vigour which it had originally received from the conduct and heroism of Tariffa. Although the difference of religion prevented the Moors and their Spanish subjects from ever being completely melted into one people, yet it appears that nothing could, on the whole, be more mild than the conduct of the Moorish government towards the Christian population of the country during this their splendid period of undisturbed dominion. Their learning and their arts they liberally communicated to all who desired such participation, and the Christian youth studied freely and honourably at the feet of Jewish physicians and Mahommedan philosophers. Communion of studies and acquirements continued through such a space of years could not have failed to break down, on both sides, many of the barriers of religious prejudice, and to nourish a spirit of kindliness and charity among the more cultivated portions of either people. The intellect of the Christian Spaniards could not be ungrateful for the rich gifts it was every day receiving from their misbelieving masters; while the benevolence with which instructors ever regard willing disciples must have tempered in the minds of the Arabs the sentiments of haughty superiority natural to the breasts of conquerors. By degrees, however, the scattered remnants of unsubdued Visigoths, who had sought and found refuge among the mountains of Asturias and Gallicia, began to gather the strength of numbers and of combination, and the Mussulmen saw different portions of their empire successively wrested from their hands by leaders whose descendants assumed the titles of kings in Oviedo and Navarre-and counts in Castille-Soprarbia-Arragon-and Barcellona. From the time when these governments were established, till all their strength was united in the persons of Ferdinand and Isabella, a perpetual war may be said to have subsisted between the professors of the two religions—and the natural jealousy of Moorish governors must have gradaully, but effectually diminished the comfort of the Christians who yet lived under their authority. Were we to seek our ideas of the period only from the events recorded in its chronicles, we should be led to believe that nothing could be more deep and fervid than the spirit of mutual hostility which prevailed among all the adherents of the opposite faiths: but external events are sometimes not the surest guides to the spirit either of peoples or of ages-and the ancient popular poetry of Spain may be referred to for proofs, which cannot be considered as either of dubious or of trivial value, that the rage of hostility had not sunk quite so far as might have been imagined into the minds and hearts of those engaged in the conflict. There is, indeed, nothing more natural, at first sight, than to reason in some measure from a nation as it is in our own day, back to what it was a few centuries ago: but we believe nothing could tend to the production of greater mistakes than such a mode of judging applied to the case of Spain. In the erect and high-spirited peasantry of that country we still see the genuine and uncorrupted descendants of their manly forefathers-but in every other part of the population, the progress of corruption appears to have been no less powerful than rapid, and the higher we ascend in the scale of society, the more distinct and mortifying is the spectacle of moral not less than of physical deterioration. This unusual falling off of men may be traced very easily to an universal falling off-an universal destruction of principle-in regard to every point of faith and feeling most essential to the formation and preservation of a national character. We see the modern Spaniards the most bigotted and enslaved and ignorant of Europeans; but we must not forget that the Spaniards of three centuries back were, in all respects, a very different set of beings. Spain, in the first regulation of her constitution, was as free as any nation needs to be for all the purposes of social security and individual happiness. Her kings were her captains and her judges-the chiefs and the models of a gallant nobility, and the protectors of a manly and independent peasantry: But the authority with which they were invested was guarded by the most accurate limitations-nay, in case they should exceed the boundary of their legal powerthe statute-book of the realm contained exact rules for the conduct of a constitutional insurrection to recal them to their duty, or to punish them for its desertion. Every order of society had its representatives in the national council, and every Spaniard, of whatever degree, was penetrated with a sense of his own dignity as a freeman-his own nobility as a descendant of the Visigoths. And it is well remarked by the elegant Italian historian of our own day,* that, even to this hour, the influence of this happy order of things still continues to be felt in Spain-where manners and language and literature have all received indelibly a stamp of courts, and aristocracy, and proud feeling-which affords a striking contrast to what may be observed in modern Italy, where the only freedom that ever existed had its origin and residence among citizens and merchants. The civil liberty of the old Spaniards could scarcely have existed, so long as it did, in the presence of any feeling so black and noisome as the bigotry of modern Spain; but this 6 was never tried, for down to the time of Charles V. no man has any right to say that the Spaniards were a bigotted people. One of the worst features of their modern bigotry-their extreme and servile subjection to the authority of the Pope, was entirely awanting in the picture of their ancient spirit.In the 12th century, the kings of Arragon were the protectors of the Albigenses; and Pedro II. himself died in 1213, fighting bravely against the red cross, for the cause of tolerance. In 1268, two brothers of the king of Castille left the banners of the Infidels, beneath which they were serving at Tunis, with 800 Castillian gentlemen, for the purpose of coming to Italy and assisting the Neapolitans in their resistence to the tyranny of the Pope and Charles of Anjou. In the great schism of the west, as it is called (1378,) Pedro IV. embraced the party which the Catholic church regards as schismatic. That feud was not allayed for more than a hundred years, and Alphonso V. was well paid for consenting to lay it aside; while down to the time of Charles V., the whole of the Neapolitan princes of the house of Arragon may be said to have lived in a state of open enmity against the papal see-sometimes excommunicated for generations togetherseldom apparently-never cordially reconciled. When Ferdinand the Catholic, finally, wished to introduce the Inquisition into his kingdom, the whole nation took up arms to resist him.The Grand Inquisitor was killed, and every one of his creatures was compelled to leave the yet free soil of Arragon. But the truest and best proof of the liberality of the old Spaniards is, as we have already said, to be found in their beautiful ballads. Throughout the far greater part of these compositions, many of which must be, at least, as old as the 10th century, there breathes a charming sentiment of charity and humanity towards those Moorish enemies with whom the combats of the national heroes are represented. The Spaniards and the Moors lived together in their villages beneath the calmest of skies, and surrounded with the most lovely of landscapes. In spite of their adverse faiths-in spite of their adverse interests-they had much in common-loves, and sports, * Sismondi. |