the new possessors. These singular robbers then permitted Mr. Browne to see his servant safe out of sight, before they laid further hands on himself, after which they carried him, and the property they had reserved for themselves, into a valley on the opposite side of the Kizzilouzan, and without further parley terminated his existence, it is supposed, by strangulation. They stripped his corpse of every part of its raiment, and then left it on the open ground a prey to wolves and other wild animals. The servant meanwhile made the best of his way towards Tabreez, where he related the tale I have just told.'—pp. 268— 270.

As they approached Casvin, the cold, together with the snow, gradually disappeared; numerous flourishing villages were seen amongst rich tracts of land, that already began to put forth the promise of an early and abundant harvest. The plain of Casvin extends south-east beyond Taheran to the foot of a lofty line of mountains south of the Caspian, in which is to be found the famous pass of Kawar, anciently called the Straits of the Caspian. No regular path confined their line of march; so that the horsemen galloped to and fro, throwing the dgirid, firing their pistols, shaking their long bamboo lances, and affecting to skirmish.

Before they reached Taheran, they received intelligence of the illness of Dr. Drummond Campbell, a friend of the author, who was attached to the British embassy in Persia, and in seeing whom Sir Robert anticipated much pleasure. For the benefit of his health, he had removed to the village of Kund, a salubrious spot, delightfully situated on the side of the mountains north of Taheran, and thither the author went with Dr. de la Fosse to pay

him a visit.

The night was beautiful; a bright moon, through as clear a sky, cheering us on our way. It was past midnight before we reached the quarters of poor Campbell. He was asleep when we arrived, and being careful not to have him disturbed, we did not see him till five o'clock the next morning. When I entered his melancholy chamber, and again took my friend by the hand, I was shocked to find him far more reduced than even the messenger had described. His pleasure was great at the sight of us, and we did our best to enliven him with hopes of recovery. But he shook his head, though with a kind smile, that showed his resignation and feeling of our motive in thus seeking to cheer him. Our visit was short, but yet as long as his weak state could bear; and we started early that Dr. de la Fosse might make his report of our friend to the prince before he should be encumbered by the ceremonies of his approach to Teheran.'-p. 305.

This unfortunate gentleman soon after died, and Sir Robert indulges in lamentations over his fate, highly creditable to his feelings; though we cannot well understand him, when he observes, that during the spring at Taheran, he often thought of his

poor

poor friend, and wished that he could have borne the last lingering severities of departing winter a little longer, to have inhaled new life in the balmy relenting of nature: for, says he, the thermometer of Reaumur, during the months of April and May, never mounts to more than 70 or 80 in the shade;' a degree of heat little short of boiling water!-so dangerous is it for the unlearned to meddle even with the most trifling matters of science.

Between Taheran and Ispahan he crossed one of those immense deserts of salt which abound in Persia. That which stretches from the banks of the Heirmund river in Seistan to the range of hills which divide that province from Lower Mekran, is 400 miles long and 200 miles broad; another, as large, is met with to the north, reaching from Koom and Kashan to the provinces of Mazanderan and Khorassan. This extensive waste encircles the sea of Zereh, and in its dry parts presents to the eye either a crusted coat of brittle earth, or a succession of sand hills which assume the appearance of waves, formed of impalpable red particles that are driven about by the violent north-west winds which prevail in summer. The countries situated in the vicinity of these dreadful wilds are subject to extreme heat, the thermometer of Fahrenheit sometimes standing at 125° in a tent. Of Persia generally, it may be said that its chief features are numerous chains of mountains and large tracts of desert, amidst which are interspersed beautiful vallies and rich pasture lands. Except in the province of Mazanderan, where extensive forests are found, the mountains are generally bare, or thinly covered with underwood.

The remainder of the volume is occupied by a description of the traveller's arrival at Ispahan, and of the ruins of Persepolis. On the former subject, we find nothing worthy of notice; on the latter he has bestowed great pains, and indeed it forms by far the most valuable and interesting portion of his work.

In the plain of Merdasht, which is watered on the south-west by the river Bend-emir, the ancient Araxes, stands the Throne of Jemsheed,' as the natives call these immense ruins, now .generally believed to have belonged to the palace of Darius, to which the Macedonian madman' set fire in a fit of drunken revelry, and which was beyond doubt one of the most magnificent structures of the ancient world. If there is nothing in the architecture of the buildings, or in the sculptures and reliefs on the rocks, that can be compared with the exquisite specimens of Grecian art, still it is impossible to behold the remains of Persepolis without emotions of rapture and surprize. The wealth of an unbounded empire was exhausted in their construction; they were adorned with every ornament that the art of the old world could supply, and their history yet lives on the imperishable mate

rials of which they were built. The palace, the face of the mountain at the foot of which it is situated, and many of the rocks in its vicinity, are ornamented with a profusion of sculpture; and afford ample evidence, as Sir John Malcolm observes, that the Persians were in the habit of describing by the graving tool both their religious ceremonies and the principal events of their history. The impression made on Sir Robert Porter by the first sight of these celebrated monuments was that, both en masse and in detail, they bore a strong resemblance to the architectural taste of Egypt. The artificial plane which supports the ruins of this immense citadel, as he calls it, is of a very irregular shape; but nothing can transcend the strength and beauty of its construction. Its steep faces are formed of dark grey marble, cut into gigantic blocks, exquisitely polished, and, without the aid of mortar, fitted to each other with such admirable precision, that when first completed, the platform must have appeared as part of the solid mountain itself, levelled to become a foundation for a structure, many of whose proud columns still remain erect. A flight of steps, situated in its western face, leads to the summit of the platform, and is so stupendous, and on a scale of such astonishing magnificence, as fully to prepare the mind for the corresponding forms of vastness and grandeur to be met with above.

On reaching the platform, the first objects that strike the eye are the lofty sides of an enormous portal, the interior faces of whose walls are sculptured into the forms of two colossal quadrupeds, that on a nearer approach were found to represent bulls. The loss of the heads deprived the traveller of the means of knowing whether they had one or two horns; but he thinks, from what he has seen in other symbolical animals of the same kind in Persia, that they were represented with only one. Around the necks of these bucolic sentinels (as Sir Robert classically calls them) are broad collars of roses, executed with the most critical nicety; and in the very spirited delineations which he gives of them, he has been elaborate, even to a hair, in copying the distinguishing marks of that proud epoch of Persian sculpture. At the distance of twenty-four feet, in a direct line from the portal, once stood four magnificent columns; they were all erect in the time of Chardin, but two only now remain. At an equal distance is another portal, the inner sides of which are also sculptured, but the animals represented are of very extraordinary formation, of gigantic proportions, and monstrous appearance. They have the bodies and legs of bulls, (with enormous wings,) and the faces of men. The blind zeal of the Moslems has miserably mutilated the features, yet enough remains to exhibit a severe and majestic expression of countenance, to which a long and carefully curled beard does

not

not a little contribute. Sir Robert asserts that this is the only specimen known to exist in Persia where the human and bestial form are conjoined; and he thinks that this singular hieroglyphic may with great probability be attributed to Cyrus, whose empire over the East was prophesied by Ezekiel, under a similar figure, upwards of fifty years before his accession.

An expanse of 162 feet lies between this portal and the magnificent terrace that supports the multitude of columns, from which the spot has derived its appellation of Chehal-minar, or the Palace of Forty Pillars.' A superb approach, consisting of a double staircase, projects considerably before the northern face of the terrace, the whole length of which is 212 feet; at each extremity, east and west, rises another range of steps; again in the middle, projecting from it eighteen feet, appear two smaller flights, rising from the same points. The whole front of the advanced range is covered with sculpture, which Sir Robert examined with great care, distinguishing the peculiarities of every figure, and copying them as distinctly and with as much fidelity as he could. The space immediately under the landing-place is divided into three compartments: the centre one has a plain surface; to the left are four standing figures, habited in long robes, holding a spear in an upright position in both hands; from the left shoulder hang a bow and quiver. The nicety with which the details are executed, render these sculptures particularly interesting to the historian; they mark the costume of the time and people, their progress in the form, variety, and use of arms, and indicate with clearness the ancient method of stringing the bow, and the manner of attaching the leather cover to the quiver, to protect the feathers of the arrows from damage. All these peculiarities of archery, the traveller, who says he is an old bowman himself, observed and transferred to his port-folio with great attention.

On the right of the vacant tablet are three figures only, without bows or quivers, but carrying spears with large shields, resembling Boeotian bucklers: these he considers to have been in tended to pourtray the Royal Guards. Two angular spaces on each side of the spearmen are filled with duplicate representations of a fight between a lion and a bull, a most spirited and admirable performance. Sir Robert, after perplexing himself a good deal about the import of this combat, inclines to the opinion that it typifies the conquest of Cyrus over the two great empires of Assyria, and Babylon. The beauty, and truth, and fire with which these quadrupeds are executed are above all praise.

It is remarkable, that wherever any of the brute creation are represented amongst these relics, their limbs, muscles, and actions are always given in a more perfect style than when the

VOL. XXVI. NO. LII.

G G

same

same sculptor attempts the human form; an observation that will be found to hold good with regard also to the antiquities of Egypt, Syria, and India. This consummate knowledge of the ancients in one respect, and their conspicuous ignorance in the other, our author attributes, justly enough perhaps, to the opportunities afforded by their daily sacrifices, of witnessing the minute contorsions and dissections of the brute creation, and the superstition that universally prevailed against putting the hand on a human body.

The rest of this highly ornamented staircase is covered with figures, that, judging from their numbers, their uniform dresses, arms, and positions, are probably the representatives of the vast body-guard, the Doryphores, who once held an actual station on this spot. The whole description of the procession that decorates the flight of steps which stretches to the East, illustrated as it is by drawings, executed with great spirit, and, we have no doubt, with great exactness, merits our unqualified approbation.

Our traveller was proceeding with great zeal to examine the excavated tombs scattered over this wonderful spot, when an illness, brought on by heat and fatigue, obliged him to relinquish his pursuits altogether. As he looked from side to side, and up to the rocks, to objects now beyond his compass, he felt the deepest regret at being obliged to abandon his labours. He had the satisfaction, however, to think that he had drawn nearly every bas-relief of consequence, taken a faithful plan of the place, and copied several of the cuneiform inscriptions. Full of high and solemn musing, 'of Cyrus who had planted the empire, and of Alexander who had torn it from its rock,' and lamenting, as he says, that 'such noble works of human ingenuity should be destined, from the vicissitudes of revolution, and the rapine, ignorance, or fanatieism of succeeding times, to be left in total neglect, or, when noticed, doomed to the predatory mallet, and every other attack of unreflecting destruction;' he turned from the tenantless tombs and desolated capital, and continued his route to Shiraz. Here the volume closes.

ART. XII.-The Pirate. By the Author of Waverley,' Kenilworth,' &c. 8vo. 3 vols. Edinburgh. 1822.

F we could fancy the summit of a poet's ambition, it would be, that he should render classical every scene which he described, and embalm among our recollections every character and incident that he imagined—that the appearance of one of his works should be among the public events of the year-that its perusal and dis

cussion