"Is there not here," said he familiarly to the Dervise, "wherewithal to make a very pretty Mahometan?"

The father replied: "God is good; there is no God but one, and Mahomet is one of his prophets." He added that he perceived symptoms of faith in the large black eyes of Nahela.

The Sultan continued: "they say father, your religion is a very good one." "It would be still more so," replied the Dervise, "if there were no Santons among us;" and he immediately related the history of a vio lent persecution which the Santon missionaries had excited against the Dervises in the kingdon of Siam.

Kien-Hang desired the Dervise to give him some idea of the doctrines and mysteries of his religion. Tutto satisfied him upon every point; he made him acquainted with the angel Gabriel and the Koran; he next spoke slightly of the prohibition against the drinking of wine, but expatiated at large on the delights. of Paradise, and the Houris; the Houris seemed to please his highness mightily.

Of all the mysteries, that of transformation appeared to the emperor the most simple. As Vishnou was incarnated nine times, and transformed three times to a horse, Mahomet he thought, might easily enough be changed twice into a dromedary. It is true that the Sultan had no great faith in this story, but all his wives gave full credit to it.

When the Dervise had left off speaking, Nahela asked the sublime Sultan, with apparent enthusiasm, what he thought of the matter. He said it was well enough, but he did not feel quite convinced; the favourite, on the contrary, was dying with inpat ence to receive the last seal of her conversion. The good Dervise, before he took his leave, gave the Sultana a phial, which contained, he said, the tears and sighs of a young Cochin-Chinese, who died for his religion; he also presented her with a beautiful relic, curiously wrought with hair; the hair was likewise that of a Cochin-Chinese martyr. Nahela conveyed these precious gifts to her lips, and fervently kissed them.

The father promised to send her a Cochin-Chinese convert to finish her instruction; the Sultan did not think that absolutely necessary: but he was in love, and whatever gave pleasure to the Sultana, was agreeable to him.

The convert, some days after, was introduced. The reader may easily conjecture who he was; but he will not so readily guess the sort of scene which was preparing to give the finishing stroke to the conversion of this mighty empire.

"Heavens! it is my brother," exclaimed Nahela."Gracious powers!" cried Ta-Haider, “ my sister! and before any body had time to prevent it, they were clasped in each other's embrace. The attendants hastened to separate them, when both fell backwards, pale, and dying.

"What does all this mean," said Kien-Hang, "God is good," said the Dervise--"don't you see that a brother has found a sister in the Sultana?"

The sister was placed on one sofa, the brother on another. They seemed as if struck with death.

"She is dead," sorrowfully exclaimed the wise KienHang, the Light of the Lights that illuminate the East. The physicians, the fakirs, the talapoins, the bouzes, the eunuchs, all declared that she was dead. Kien-Hang was inconsolable, tore his hair, and disfigured his countenance. The Dervise, after repeating very often "God is good," appeared absorbed in the most profound meditation.

Father," said Kien-Hang, "I am told that you have the power of restoring the dead." "I have sometimes succeeded," replied Tutto, "in reviving mussulmen, but the miracle has never been worked upon two at once; besides Nahela has not yet received the prophet's faith. I will therefore, to render glory to Allah, and to gratify you, signor, restore the brother who has been circumcised."

"Leave the Cochin-Chinese as he is," replied the Sultan, "but restore Nahela to me, and to-morrow I will embrace your faith." "This promise," said the Dervise," will be received by the prophet, who will revive not only the sister, but the brother also. Signor, retire awhile."

Kien-Hang withdrew, but whispered to the Dervise as he went out, that he need not give himself any trouble about the Cochin-Chinese.

The reader must know, that the relic given by Tutto to the Sultana, inclosed a billet in which the plot of this scene was explained to her; the phial filled with sighs and tears, contained a subtle spirit, prepared by the

Dervise. Ta-Haider and Nahela were to inhale the liquid both at the same time, and they executed this part of the contrivance very adroitly; the first effect of the spirit, was to cause a fainting away, more or less prolonged in proportion to its strength; an icy coldness next took possession of the limbs; a livid hue spread over the countenance, and the whole frame became stiff and motionless.

The Sultan had no sooner left them than Tutto applied another spirit to his two patients, which counteracted the effects of the former, and immediately restored them to their senses.

"The time presses," my children, said the Dervise: "you have only one moment to say that you still love each other. The prophet will bless your union: the conversion of the empire of Ava'

He would have said a good deal more, but Nahela and Ta-Haider were already occupied in attending to his first suggestion.

The good father retired to a corner to pray. In the mean time the heralds announced to the city of Ava, that a Dervise had worked a miracle in the palace, and that the circumscision of the emperor was immediately to take place. The report soon reached every corner of the empire, and some Santons who had just arrived on the frontiers, were forced to turn back, and take up their residence in the adjoining countries.

Having finished his devotions, the Dervise announced to the impatient Kien-Hang, that Nahela was brought to life again. The Sultan hastened to embrace her: he was followed by his eight hundred and thirty-five other wives, and their six thousand eunuchs; his ten thousand elephants were ranged in the courts of the palace, and his hundred thousand men were under arms. The two rivers of Irrouaddy resounded with the cry of Allah! Allah!

The poets of the court celebrated the favourite Sultana, her charms, her virtues, her little cocked-up nose, her large black eyes, her love for the Sultan, and her affection for her brother.

The Sultan was every day more and more enamoured of Nahela; the brother was named chief mandarin; the Dervise received the appointment of grand astronomer of the empire; his brethren nade the almanacks, calculated the eclipses, and converted the

infidels; the grand astronomer reformed the calendar of the country, and no Santon was ever again suffered to pass the frontiers of Ava.

THE ARTS.

No. VII.

REPLY TO THE APOLOGY FOR THE CHALK MANNER OF ENGRAVING.

"Be thou as chaste as ice—as pure as snow,

Thou shalt not escape Calumny."

MR. CONDUCTOR,

A correspondent of your's who professes to write "An Apology for the Chalk manner of Engraving," has attempted to impose on your readers by an envious and very illiberal attack on the professional character of Mr. Landseer. It appeared in your last number, and as an antidote cannot be administered too soon after poison, I rely on the candour which has hitherto presided in your Cabinet council, for an immediate insertion of the following lines; of which the object is less to vindicate Mr. L., for that is less necessary, than to expose the insidious, ungenerous, and uncalled-for conduct of your Apologist, and set on their guard such of your readers (if any such there be) as do not see what bulges the cloak of this assassin: The lecturer may rely on what he has written, and on what he may further intend, and may say with the Spartan, "strike but hear:" but malevolent designs should still be exposed, that the public may repel with deserved abhorrence every attempt to stigmatise innocence, or to invade the peaceful abodes of studious retirement.

It is fortunate for society that bad men in their reasonings, frequently overlook very important points. A distinguished artist very wittily encountered a witticism of Garth, by saying that he "would take any thing from the doctor, but his prescriptions." Your correspondent (who also would be thought a distinguished artist)

is of quite opposite sentiments: he will take nothing from Mr. L. but what is personally administered. He seems not to be aware that the public-looking beyond the cloud of sophistry with which he craftily attempts to obscure their perceptions-will see that the TRUTH of what Mr. L. has advanced, is not, and cannot be, at all affected, by what he has, or has not engraven. If he had never cut a line, or if he were the author of as many plates as Bartolozzi, and as admirable as your correspondent would insinuate his own performances to be, his account of the introduction of Chalk engraving into this country, which has so highly offended your generous correspondent, would neither be verified the less on that account, nor can be falsified the more. Your generous, your liberal correspondent, professes himself to be the advocate of Chalk engraving, and would insist that no person is competent to speak of an art, but who practi cally excels in that art. It is fair to infer that he is prepared to prove not only that Garth did not write his own Dispensary,' but that Mr. Clarke of Edinburgh, who never commanded a ship, (nor was even ever at sea, if common report may be credited) was not the author of the system of naval tactics or else that the system is idle and illusory which taught Rodney aud Nelson, and all the best and bravest of our admirals to conquer: it is just to conclude, that he will send Sir Joshua Reynolds to the drawing school, before he allows the smallest credit to his discourses; that he will compel Mr. Payne Knight to produce statues from his own chisel, and pictures from his own pencil, ere he listens to that gentleman's criticisms on Art, or principles of taste;' and that he will set the committee of taste which the House of Commons has selected, to model public monuments, before he allows them to sit in judgment on the models of others. Further, it is reasonable to expect, that if your logical and candid correspondent does not conclude his apology with his own name, we shall at least be surprised and editied by a line which shall vie with those of Protogenes and Apelles of old.

Mr. L's account of the introduction of Chalk engraving into England, is perhaps not the best written part of his volume of Lectures, yet is a detail of facts* (not

In justice to your readers and to the other parties concerned, would it not be well for you to print the whole, if you can find room