firm to undertake. To ascend by steps, however broad, to a height of 480 feet, that is, 120 feet higher than the cross of St. Paul's, is no slight proof of not being subject to panics by no means peculiar to ladies. The description of Cairo is given very pleasantly; and not the less from the interesting translations from Abdallatif, the Arabian physician's account of it in the 12th century. The extracts from this curious work incidentally give one a most favourable idea of the cultivation and acquirements of the eastern people. The remarks are evidently the result of a highly cultivated intellect; and one sees how ignorant and erroneous is the notion, that the race that overran the East and so great a portion of the West, was in a state of semi-barbarism. History has never been properly studied or, beginning with Egyptian, and proceeding to Arabian, we should see how the course of civilisation flowed from these two great sources. Not one of the least good effects arising from Miss Martineau's work will be to turn the attention of readers towards these two great sources of civilisation. A translation from Abdallatif, with his graphic account of the famine of 11991202, consequent on the failure of the Nile, would be as interesting as De Foe's Fire of London, and rival Thucydides' famous description of the plague at Athens.

In the remarks on the consecration of brutes are some excellent thoughts. How sensibly and how purely the simplicities and the monstrosities of ancient worship are treated, need hardly be said to any one acquainted with the writer's previous works. The following is a summary of

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LIFE.

"They rebuke us sufficiently in showing us that at that time men were living very much as we do ;-without some knowledge that we have gained, but in possession of some arts which we have not. They confound us by their mute exhibitions of their iron tools and steel armour; their great range of manufactures, and their feasts and sports, so like our own. In their kitchens they decant wine by a syphon, and strew their sweet cakes with seeds, and pound their spices in a mortar. In the drawing-room, they lounge on chaises-longues, and the ladies knit and net as we do, and darn better than we can. I saw at Dr. Abbott's a piece of mending left unfinished several thousand years ago, which any Englishwoman might be satisfied with or proud of. In the nursery the little girls had dolls; jointed dolls, with bunchy hair and long eyes; as our dolls have blue eyes and fair tresses. And the babies had, not the woolly bow-wow dogs which yelp in our nurseries, but little wooden crocodiles with snapping jaws. In the country we see the agriculturists taking stock; and in the towns, the population divided into castes, subject to laws, and living under a theocracy, long before the supposed time of the Deluge. There is enough here to teach us some humility and patience about the true history of the world."

We do not know how Miss Martineau will settle her chronology with the Oxford Theologians: but that is her affair; and she seems at all events to have many facts on her side. The following scrap will give an idea of the vast speculation the contemplation of the Nile calls up.

HOW LONG HAS THE NILE FLOWED ?

"Much should we like to know from what depth of ages the greatest of intermittent springs had regularly gushed forth, to give life to an expecting nation, waiting in hope along a line of two thousand miles."

To Cairo we can give but little space, although we ought in justice to the powers of the writer, to show how equal she is to both phases of the wondrous lands she discourses of.

THE STREETS OF CAIRO.

"Cairo streets are wholly indescribable; their narrowness, antiquity, sharp lights, and arcades of gloom, carved lattices, mat awnings, mixture of hubbub and fatalist quietude in the people, to whom loss of sight appears a matter of course; the modes of buying and selling;-all are in my mind, but cannot be set down."

"The one unimaginable circumstance is the atmosphere. No conception of the light, shade, and colour can be conveyed; and they are an hourly surprise to the stranger in Cairo, to the last."

An earnest advocacy of the truth and powers of mesmerism will be received, we are well aware, according to the reader's pre-conceived notions. Of the testimony to Mr. Lane's powers and nobility in sacrificing himself to the production of an authentic Arabic lexicon, living in an unpleasant exile for that purpose, there will be no difference of feeling. It is a national work, and will prove a national benefit. It seems, that the sovereign of Prussia and not of England has sustained Mr. Lane in this unprofitable undertaking, though some of the odium that might rest on us as a nation for the neglect of such endeavours has been removed, by the liberality of Lord Prudhoe, now Duke of Northumberland. Miss Martineau asks, how our rich Universities will acknowledge the boon? why, as they welcomed Gibbon, or any one, or anything, that in the remotest possible way can affect their unjust exaltation, or interfere with their disgraceful monopolies. The wish expressed as to the employment of Mr. Lane's sons, English-bred in the midst of Orientalisms, may meet, as it most undoubtedly ought, with some petty attention. But had the people a true government, what immense and rapid advances would it make in this and all ways? How rapidly would the East and West blend together, and both gain by the mutual understanding?

Of the Hareem there is a sad, but evidently true account, admirably written and well considered; and in which, so far from there being any exaggeration, much is suppressed, that a common writer would have given, if it had only been for the sake of creating an excitement. This chapter is a fair rebuke to some modern poets, who have thrown the charms of their rhetoric over one of the vilest and cruellest institutions this cruel world has ever instituted. The following is a glimpse of some of the horrors of this manly system :

66

EDUCATION IN THE HAREEM.

They will nurse the child all night in illuess, and pamper it all day with

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sweetmeats and toys; they will fight for the possession of it, and be almost heart-broken at its loss and lose it they must; for the child always dies,— killed with kindness, even if born healthy. This natural outbreak of feminine instinct takes place in the too populous hareem, when a child is given to any one of the many who are longing for the gift and if it dies naturally, it is mourned as we saw through a wonderful conquest of personal jealousy by this general instinct. But when the jealousy is uppermost,— what happens then?-why, the strangling the innocent in its sleep, or the letting it slip from the window into the river below, or the mixing poison with its food; -the mother and the murderess, always rivals and now fiends, being shut up together for life. If the child lives, what then? If a girl, she sees before her from the beginning the nothingness of external life, and the chaos of interior existence, in which she is to dwell for life. If a boy, he remains among the women till ten years old, seeing things when the eunuchs come in to romp, and hearing things among the chatter of the ignorant women which brutalise him for life before the age of rationality comes. But I will not dwell on these hopeless miseries."

The concluding chapters of this portion of the work are devoted to giving some ideas of the present condition of Egypt; and the authoress's life and studies entitle her to be heard with respect on this disputed but important subject. Altogether, she thinks Egypt is declining, and that the boasted reforms and experiments of the Pasha have not taken a right direction, and have not emanated from either an original genius for legislation, nor a sufficient knowledge of European systems. Property is not secure; justice is not certain; taxation is arbitrary and oppressive; and slavery and polygamy corrupt the morals of the people.

We have now accompanied Miss Martineau through the first and most important portion of her pilgrimage; and, as our space will not permit us to follow with equal precision through the other portions, we shall take leave of her, quite sure that the reader who can be induced, by anything we have said or extracted, to go thus far with her, will only be too happy to follow her to the full extent of this travel, or of any she may choose to make. We, however, perfectly agree with the concluding sentence of this portion :

"Here, then, we take leave of Egypt,-to me by far the most interesting portion of our travels. I believe that some others did not find it so in the experience of their journey; and I hope my readers may not in the retrospect. And yet I should like them to feel with me in regard to the surpassing interest of Egypt, even at the cost of their relishing the latter half of my book less than the first."

The other and lesser portion is occupied with the Desert, Mount Sinai, Petra, Palestine, and Syria, and, though abounding with interest, is certainly inferior to the first. After all we have said and quoted, it is superfluous to add that we think these volumes highly valuable from their reflections and descriptions, and that it is quite certain they will be eagerly sought for by all cultivated readers, and obtain a permanent place in well-selected libraries.

LONDON: BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.

AUG 2 6 1916

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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firm to undertake. 480 feet, that is, 1 slight proof of not ladies. The descrip less from the inte physician's account curious work incide! vation and acquire dently the result c ignorant and errone and so great a por History has never tian, and proceeding sation flowed from effects arising from of readers towards tion from Abdallati 1202, consequent c De Foe's Fire of L the plague at Athe In the remarks thoughts. How s

monstrosities of a any one acquainte is a summary of

"They rebuke us living very much as but in possession of mute exhibitions of manufactures, and kitchens they decan seeds, and pound lounge on chaises-1 better than we can. several thousand ye or proud of. In th bunchy hair and lo And the babies h nurseries, but little we see the agricul divided into castes, the supposed time o humility and patien

We do not know the Oxford Theol events to have ma an idea of the vast