the brightest flowers of paradise, and our whole procession kept advancing invested with celestial colours.

"Mass began as soon as the high prelatic powers had taken their stations. It was celebrated with no particular pomp, no glittering splendour, but the countenance and gestures of the officiating priests were characterised by a profound religions awe. The voices of the monks, clear but deeptoned, rose pealing through vast and echoing spaces. The chant was grave and simple-its austerity mitigated in some parts by the treble of very young choristers. These sweet and innocent sounds found their way to my heart-they recalled to my memory our own beautiful cathedral service, and I wept! My companions, too, appeared unusually affected; their thoughts still dwelling, no doubt, on that prophetic voice which never failed to impress its hearers with a sensation of mysterious dread."-pp. 81-85.

It will be allowed that these are very impressive and magnificent sketches-the author's soul sympathising with their spirit, while his sound judgment never forsakes him so as to be lost amid the gorgeous solemnity of his scenes, and the almost intoxicating flow of his felicitous language, to a perception of the frailties of mankind or the peculiarities of individual characters, which, however, he treats with a humorous indulgence. After visiting the mausoleum and sepulchres of kings and princely personages, at the close of the religious service just described, and catching the spirit of quietude, melancholy, and mottoed device which the sculptured tombs breathe, we learn that my Lord High Almoner had set his heart upon an omelet, which he eagerly desired might be tossed by the author's divine French cook: nor did such a romantic and suceptible writer fail to record, not long after, the solemn scenes above sketched, that he began to be tired of pompous rites-the splendour of illumined altars, and saints, and Madonnas-the fumes of banquets and incense, and perpetual gormandising, in fusty saloons, under still fustier canopies.

On the way home of the author and his reverend companions, from Alcobaça, they were all three invited to the palace of Queluz, the former by the Lord in waiting to the Prince Regent, and the latter by the Prince himself. We shall, therefore, now confine ourselves to some notices connected with this visit. Mr. Beckford soon learned that the Prince had been greatly disturbed by late accounts of the state of other parts of Europe, and that he had also domestic vexations to combat-the predominant power of his Princess, the Infanta Donna Carlotta being one of them. Our author's interview with the Princess, in certain lovely gardens, to which it was a rare thing for strangers to have access, we shall allow him to describe. She had heard that he could run like a grey-hound for swiftness, and wished to be convinced of the truth of the report. "Nothing so easy," answered he, to the young nobleman that was sent to invite him to her presence, and whom he found seated in the oriental fashion, on a rich velvet carpet, in the

deepest recess of an odoriferous thicket, surrounded by thirty or forty young women more fascinating than herself.

How did you leave the fat waddling monks of Alcobaça,' said her royal highness. I hope you did not run races with them;-but that would indeed have been impossible. There,' continued she, 'down that avenue if you like, when I clap my hands together, start; your friend Pedro and two of my donzellas shall run with you take care you are not beaten.' The avenue allotted for this amusing contest was formed of catalpas and orange trees, and as completely smooth and level as any courser, biped or quadruped, upon whom all the bets in the universe were depending. could possibly desire. The signal given, my youthful friend, all ardour, all agility, and two Indian-looking girls of fourteen or fifteen, the very originals, one would have thought, of those graceful creatures we often see represented in Hindoo paintings, darted forth with amazing swiftness. Although I had given them ten paces in advance, exerting myself in right earnest, I soon left them behind, and reached the goal-a marble statue, rendered faintly visible by lamps gleaming through transparent vases. I thought I heard a murmur of approbation; but it was so kept down, under the terror of disturbing the queen, as to be hardly distinguishable.

"Muy bien, muy bien, said the Princess, in her native Castilian, when we returned to the margin of the velvet carpet upon which she was still sitting reclined, and made our profound obeisances. I see the Englishman can run-report has not deceived me. Now,' continued her royal highness, let me see whether he can dance a bolero; they say he can, and like one of us if that be true-and I hope it is, for I abhor unsuccessful enterprises-Antonita shall be his partner-and she is by far the best dancer that followed me from Spain."

66

This command had been no sooner issued, than a low, soft-flowing choir of female voices, without the smallest dissonance-without the slightest break-smooth, well-tuned, and perfectly melodious-filled my, ear with such enchantment, that I glided along in a delirium of romantic delight.

"My partner, an Andalusian, as full of fire and animation as the brightest beauties of Cadiz and Seville, though not quite so young as I could have wished her to be, was rattling her castinets at a most intrepid rate, and raising her voice to a higher pitch than was seemly in these regions, when a universal Hush, hush, hush!' arrested our movement, suspended the harmonious notes of the choir, and announced the arrival of the Marquis of Anjeja."—pp. 207–209.

The Marquis was the Lord in waiting upon the Prince, and was sent to summon, our author to his presence in a long state gallery. But without saying a word about the frivolities or cares of their royal highnesses, or of the author's part in picturing them to our imagination, we give the interview with the Prince as our last extract from this polished and impressive volume.

"He was standing alone in this vast room, thoughtful, it appeared to me, and abstracted. He seemed, however, to brighten upon my approach; and although he was certainly the reverse of handsome, there was an expression of shrewdness, and at the same time benignity, in his very uncommon countenance, singularly pleasing: it struck me that he had a

decided look, particularly about the mouth, of his father's maternal ancestors. John the Fifth having married the Archduchess, daughter of the Emperor Charles the Sixth, he had therefore an hereditary claim to those wide-spreading, domineering lips, which so remarkably characterised the House of Austria, before it merged into that of Lorraine.

"Welcome back from Alcobaça,' said his Royal Highness to me, with the most condescending kindness: I hope your journey was pleasant-how did you find the roads?'

"Not half so bad as I expected, especially upon our return from the great convent, the reverend fathers having summoned all their numerous dependents to mend them with astonishing expedition: the Lord Abbot took care of that.'

"He takes excellent care of himself, at least,' observed the Prince' nobody better. Is it not true that he is become most gloriously corpulent, and fallen passionately in love with the fine French cookery you gave him an opportunity of enjoying?'

"I perceived by this sally that the Grand Prior had been a faithful narrator of our late proceedings, as was proved more and more by the following queries.

"You had a stage-play too, had you not? The fathers of Mafra have often regaled me with performances of a similar nature; and many a hearty laugh have I had at them, and with them, before now. I dare say you must have thought them half out of their senses; their poet particularly, who, I hear, is one of the most ridiculous buffoons, the most impudent blockhead (tolerao) in the kingdom. I shall send for him one of these days myself; they say he is highly diverting, and I want something to cheer my spirits. Every despatch from France brings us such frightful intelligence, that I am lost in amazement and horror; the ship of the state in every country in Europe is labouring under a heavy tormentGod alone can tell upon what shore we shall all be drifted!'

"With these prophetic words, most solemnly and energetically pronounced, the Prince thought fit to dismiss me, honouring me again with those affable expressions of regard which his excellent heart never failed to dictate. Let me observe, whilst the recollections of the interviews I have had with this beneficent sovereign remain fresh in my memory, that not one of his subjects spoke their native language-that beautiful harmonious language, with greater purity and eloquence than himself. When in his graver moods, there was a promptitude, a facility in his diction, most remarkable: every word he uttered was to the purpose, and came with the fullest force. When he chose to relax-which he certainly was apt enough to do more than now and then-a quaint national turn of humour added a zest to his pleasantries, that upon my entering heart and soul into the idiom of the language, has often afforded me capital entertainment. No one knew how to win popular affection, after its own fashion, more happily than this well-intentioned, single-minded prince. Had it not been for the bancful influence of his despotic consort-her restless intrigues of all hues, political as well as private-her wanton freaks of favouritism and atrocious acts of cruelty-his reign would have gone down to the latest times in the annals of his kingdom, surrounded with a halo of gratitude."— pp. 211-215.

VOL. III. (1835.) no. I.

50

ART. V.-Some Considerations on the Political State of the Intermediate Countries between Persia and India, with Reference to the Project of Russia marching an Army through them. By E. STIRLING, Esq., Bengal Civil Service. London: Whittaker and Co. 1835. A GREAT and increasing jealousy exists with reference to the project of Russia marching an army through the countries between Persia and India, and we are solicitous to do what in us lays to keep awake the eye of our countrymen upon the possibility or probability of such an attempt. It is well known that the northern autocrat has already had missions to Bokhara, Khiva, and Kojend, and it is reported that some new colonies and establishments have been founded by the same power on the eastern shores of the Caspian. As says the author of the pamphlet before us, "Russia, by its late ascendancy in Persia, its possession of the countries situated to the north of the Araxes, and the reputation she has acquired in the Turkish territory by her late victories, has become a most formidable combatant in the field of Asiatic warfare, and a competitor for universal empire in Asia. Having exacted in the course of a very inconsiderable time, reparation from her two most enfeebled enemies for the expenses of wars conducted on a scale of the largest extent, it is scarcely to be expected that she will rest contented with this successful display, without reaping the real fruit of her power. These beginnings may be nothing else but the commencement of a system of the most extensive aggrandisement, which, as it is evident, she will never check herself, so nothing but the force of an exterior enemy can compel her to restrain her power within those bounds necessary for the existence of the neighbouring states." He goes on to express himself well with reference to a general European war, and maintains that India will be the field to which the most potent powers will direct their forces, as the most valuable and interesting prize. The very poverty of the plains of Russia, may, as in the case of the northern nations that overran the Roman empire, incite them to invade southern countries. The way in which they will be able to effect such an invasion of India has therefore become a matter of speculation; " and while one party contends for the impossibility of such an extensive and longcontinued warfare, at such an enormous distance from their own frontier, the other party points out the route, the facilities of the journey, and the perfect practicability of reaching the banks of the Indus without any serious impediment, and attempts to demonstrate the unlikelihood either of defeat or reverse in this contemplated invasion." The author has, in the small compass of this pamphlet, considered the different routes by which such an invading army might proceed; and we shall do little more than glance at his statement, presuming that all who feel interested in the subject, and that peruse our pages, will have recourse to the production in

its entire state, especially, as without some considerable previous acquaintance with the geographical position of the countries named, or some very distinct map, the narrative would generally amount to little more than a string of hard and unintelligible names, that could not be remembered, so far as one tenth part of any one route is concerned, between Persia and India.

It is proper, however, before even glancing at the current of the author's narrative and calculations, to take along with us one or two things mentioned in his Introduction. The amount of the information contained in the pamphlet was collected at the suggestion of Sir John Keneir M'Donald, the late envoy in Persia, upon his understanding of the author's intention of returning to India vià Khorasan and Afghanistan. Sir John considered that an investigation into the condition, capabilities, and military features of those intermediate countries, by which an European army from the north or west could penetrate to India was most desirable, especially at the time that he spoke of, when the actual posture of affairs in Persia was very critical. This was in the summer of 1828, when the state of our knowledge with regard to the facilities and the impediments which may tend to aid or retard the progress of a hostile force, was even more defective than at present: for since that period the investigations and discoveries of Burnes and others have appeared, which have thrown considerable light upon the subject.

It may be asked why our author, at such a distant period after the accomplishment of his journey, and still more after the publications of later travellers, whose labours and researches have been much greater, should thus come forward now. As an answer per

sonal to himself, he says, that on his return to Calcutta, the members of the government could not be roused to take an interest in the matter, although Sir John M'Donald's instructions to him had been forwarded to them; and that as three-and-twenty days in excess of his leave of absence had expired, he was deprived of his collectorship of Agra for eighteen months. In these circumstances, when no desire for the intelligence now published was expressed, it could not be expected that the reception he met with should stimulate him to a hasty production of what he had gathered.

But besides this explanation, which concerns the public little, he lays claim to having shewed the facility and practicability of the path which has since been followed with greater success; and certainly his pages contain a number of sound statements, and shrewd conjectures, that have been verified by more recent journies; while his beginning with Persia and retaining the original features of his paper, will, even at this day, afford acceptable views to those who desire to compare information from different sources on the same subject. We add, that the short, comprehensive, and distinct sketch which he gives of localities and other matters, will interest some who have not an opportunity to examine much more voluminous works.