phical researches, will find ample materials for the gratification of their curiosity in Belgium, where they have numerous Histories of their provinces and towns, which preserve lively and interesting pictures of their antient customs and manners, as well as of the progress of Taste and Literature. Topography is a favourite study upon the Continent; and notwithstanding the contempt in which it is held by many people on this side of the water, as a dry uninteresting pursuit, fit only for the sons of dullness, and inconsistent with a taste for Polite Literature and the Elegant Arts, the example of our Belgic neighbours shews, that Topography, in the hands of liberal and cultivated minds, may be rendered highly instructive and entertaining. I beg leave to transcribe a passage illustrative of this remark from a Parochial History, which was published 25 years ago, by way of sounding a trumpet to announce the appearance of that monumentum æreperennius, the History of Leicestershire.

"It is the province of the Topographer to trace the history of Property,

and the colour which the different modes of it have given to the complexion of the times. It is his province to connect antient and modern institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, and to compare their effects upon character, manners, and customs; to add to the stock of biographical knowledge; to explore the eu riosities of the animal, the vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; to illustrate the remains of genius in the Fine Arts, and to point out the monuments of antient grandeur; to preserve the remembrance of those spots which have been the scenes of remarkable events; and to mark the progress of population, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. Thus the labours of the Parochial Antiquary may be rendered subservient to public utility and refined amusement ; and greatly facilitate and assist the researches of the Naturalist, the Biographer, and the Historian."

I can truly say, that I have derived much rational enjoyment from the researches of the Belgian Topographers; to which i think I may venture to add, that from the various productions of this sort which I have had occasion to consult, a Writer of judgment and taste, possessing powers of combination and discrimination, might give the world a more interesting History of the Netherlands than has yet ap

peared. The late Mr. Thomas Warton, in the Preface to his admirable History of Kiddington, observes, that the French, the most lively people in Europe, and at the same time a nation of Antiquaries, have a strong predilection for Topography; and books of that description are to be found in great abundance on the shelves of the circulating libraries, a presumptive evidence of their being executed so as to be acceptable to the ladies. In my last Letter I gave a hint to those who travel with a view of increasing their stock of ideas, to which I beg leave to refer the Reader; and now proceed to fulfill the promise with which I closed that Letter.

On my arrival at Halle I felt a strong desire to proceed immediately from thence to Waterloo, which is about eight miles to the East of it; but my fellow-travellers expressed a wish to take the circuitous route of Brussels, and I was unwilling to lose their society as long as I could enjoy it. I knew that in a few days we were to bid each other adieu, perhaps for ever; and I had already entertained sentiments of regard for them, which absence has not been able to diminish. I considered, moreover, that we should be enabled to proceed from Brussels to Waterloo with advantages for exploring that celebrated spot, beyond what we could derive from any other quarter.

Superstition has ever been a strong feature in the religious character of the Belgians, of which the town of Halie affords a conspicuous example. The Topographical accounts which I have seen of this place having been written by bigoted Papists, seem to have almost lost sight of every topic but one. For be it known that Halle has been renowned for ages as the favoured residence of an image of the Virgin Mary, which is called, by way of eminence, the Miraculous Image of our Lady; and is regarded. with no less veneration by the Flemish Devotees, than was the Wooden Image of Pallas, which the Trojans firmly believed to have fallen down from Heaven. As the Trojans reckoned their Capital secure while the Palladium remained in the Citadel, so the devotees of Halle regard the Miraculous Image of their Goddess as the Palladium of their town. And as the representative of the Tritonian

Goddess

Goddess is said to have emitted flames of fire from her eye-balls, on being conveyed by the sacrilegious hands of Diomedes and Ulysses. into the Gre cian camp, so the Image of our Lady at Halle is reported to have shed copious floods of tears on the introduction of the Lutheran Heresy into Belgium. There is no place in the Netherlands which has been so much frequented by Pilgrims as Halle. Sovereign Princes, in former days, used to vie with each other in the value and splendour of their offerings to the Miraculous Image; nor has the shrine of Our Lady been more indebted to any royal devotees than to Albert and Isabella, who governed the Spanish Low Countries during the early part of the seventeenth century with distinguished equity and benevolence. Those excellent Sovereigns, who gave implicit credit to all the traditionary legends of monks and hermits, and who devoutly swallowed all the wonders that had been ascribed to the Image at Halle, were fully persuaded that the patronage of the Holy Virgin was the surest guarantee of what they had most sincerely at heart, the prosperity and glory of their country; and they dedicated much of their time to the worship of her Image at Halle. In the study of human nature we sometimes meet with strange anomalies; and the Historian, in the delineation of character, has often to record inconsistencies that excite the pity of a rational Christian, while they draw a smile from the Philosopher, or a sneer of contempt from the Infidel. This remark hath been suggested by a review of the characters of Albert and Isabella, in whom the weakest superstition was united with mental vigour and firmness in the government of their subjects, and with persevering application to business. It has been remarked by a sensible and well-informed Writer *, that " much of the superstition of the Catholic proviuces may justly be traced back to the reign of Albert and Isabella ;" and yet they were the munificent patrons of Genius and Learning. And in no æra of the history of that country did the Arts and Sciences flourish with Inore lustre than during their mild and auspicious

* Shaw's Sketches of the History of the Austrian Netherlands.

sway: the Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, were emimently protected and encouraged by them.

"Then Sculpture and her sisterArt revive, Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live : [rung." With sweeter notes each rising temple POPE'S Essay on Criticism.

The celebrated Justus Lipsius, whose name shines with such splendour in the annals of Classical and Critical Learning, was honoured with peculiar marks of their favour; and their admiration of that great Scholar was, no doubt, heightened by his coming forward as the champion of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady at Halle. Lipsius, whether from the same superstitious weakness which characterized his Sovereigns, or (which is more probable, from the general course of his life, as related by Bayle and others) from courtly adulation, and a thirst of popular applause, published a Book, entitled Hallensis Virgo, wherein he gravely admits the truth of all the wonderful works which had been ascribed to the Image of the Queen of Heaven; a Book, which a Topographer of Halle with no less gravity asserts, the Heretics bave never been able to confute. If any Reader will take the trouble of consulting Bayle's Life of Lipsius, I am inclined to think he will rise from the perusal of it with a strong suspicion that Lipsius must have been laughing in his sleeve while he was descanting on the praises of his Goddess, as he styles her in a Copy of Verses which he presented to her on the consecration of a Silver Pen which he suspended before her altar.

The Miraculous Image of Our Lady is preserved in one of the chapels of the parish church of St. Martin; and the Anniversary of the Kene-Masse, or, as we should term it, of the Wake Sunday, is a great day at Halle. On that day the Image of the Virgin is carried about the town in solemn procession, attended by the magistrates, and by deputies from twelve neighbouring cities and towns, amidst a vast concourse of people. I have never witnessed a procession at a KeneMasse without thinking of the learned Dr. Middleton's comparison between Rome Pagan and Rome Papal, together with the following lines from Pope's Dunciad :

"See

HE recent affair at Algiers has

tions-and the vigour of the Church Missions which have seconded their efforts beyond example or buman strength alone, aided by the powers of other Societies, have laid the foundation of that grand achievement which is instrumental to the determinate councils of Divine Authority. Surely the Jews, who are extensively scattered amongst the Mahometans in the North of Africa, and in the

the Mahometan influence and power in that part of Europe and Africa bordering on the Mediterranean sea : the shores of which, to the East, South, North-eastern, South-eastern, and South-western borders, exhibit the power of the false Prophet: Turkey presents also his unlimited sway which oppresses the fairest parts of Europe, and holds Asia minor in bondage-also the birth places of Abraham and of the Redeemer of mankind; besides Egypt, the cradle and perfection of the multifarious springs of Science; besides Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, which, being under bis dominion, form a strong barrier to the recovery of the true religion into her African districts. The Moors extend his government also to the South in the interior of that Continent; to the South-east in Arabia, to the East in Persia, and to the North-east round the shores of the Caspian Sea. Thus a fifth or sixth part of the human race are shewn to be Mahometans and there is free access to all their States by the Mediterranean Sea.

The period of their termination is set by Prophecy, and we may_now say, the day is approaching. From the date of Mahomet, A.D. 606, the term of 1260 years will bring his imposture to a close in the year 1966. His government is shaken at this time by the increase of enemies nurtured within its bosom; and their inveterate hatred to the Christians is a lead ing indication of their conscious jealousy of that authority to which they must ultimately yield. The waters of the Euphrates are drying up. The extension of the Christian power in all the neighbouring States, by the diffusion of the Scriptures, under the influence of the two Societies in London for propagating the Gospel and promoting Christian Knowledge, are ROW enabled to calculate their success from the extent of their exer

dered subservient to these efforts.But further, the Heathens are dwell. ing in considerable population amongst them on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Among these must be reckoned the Druzes of Mount Lebanon, who use the worship of Ashtaroth with deference both to the Pro

phet and to Mahomet, and are also found in all parts of Palestine. The Hordes or Clans which dwell in Syria, Judea, and Egypt, are very numerous; and one of them, inimical to the Turks, is found in the vicinity of Bylam, in Syria. Many Christian sects are also scattered amongst them, as the Pau linists of Philippopolis and Nicopolis, and in the Valleys of Mount Hæmus: and some of the people of Barabra, in Nubia, are said to be far from strict in their Mahometan profession. These, with the Affghans, of whom some account was given in Volume LXXXV. Part ii. 108, are unfriendly to the present Mahometan profession of Religion and system of Government; and it is very possible that they will become finally instrumental in the destruction of the Empire, without, perhaps, knowing how steadily their operations coincide with those of its avowed enemies and conquerors.

The degraded state of the Christian Religion and its professors, throughout the Ottoman Empire, has continued ever since the siege of Constantinople in the year 1453, by Mahomet II. who took that city by storm, and in which the last of the Cæsars, Constantine Paleologus, bravely fell in the midst of the slain. The successful Impostor took example from the complaints of his conquered Nations in the case of burdensome taxes, by levying only a small tribute, and securing his supplies upon_the contributions of the victims. But, although this artful measure may be politically advantageous, yet there is a root of evil in the Ottoman Code, which will at last accelerate its fall

namel

namely, the recognition of slavery as lawful against all persous of a different faith, and the abuse of it in their authorised cruelty which accompanies it-and further, the entire subjection of the female part of the community to lust and indolence; thus the greatest part of that Nation are born to become subservient to the bad passions of the other. Notwithstanding these reprehensible but esta blished practices, they are said to pray habitually five times in each day, in which they are expected to entirely abstract their minds from all worldly affairs; and being fatalists by principle, they acquire, in the midst of avarice, ambition, grandeur, and passion, habits of contemplation, and an indifference, more professed than practised, to secular concerns. Upon these grounds it is not so much, says Gibbon, ix. 350, the propagation, as the permanency of his Religion, that deserves our wonder.

Mahometans are said to entertain great reverence for our Scriptures as well as for their own, and to receive and peruse them with pleasure; they likewise read with great attention our religious Tracts, and strive to procure them for their study and attention. Hence, it is impossible but our Scriptures and Sacred Writings should have great influence amongst them, and finally cooperate with other means for christianizing the whole Ottoman Empire.

This influence must even now be advancing insensibly, by the intercourse subsisting in the islands and shores of the Adriatic, in the new set tlement of the Ionian Isles, in Egypt, and on the Barbary coast, where they are speaking the same language, and require only the influence of some British Consuls to promote the distribution of Arabic Translations among them. By these means we may anticipate the rapid march of their conversion, when every pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, and Medina, shall increase its interest, secular and religious, by loading its extensive caravan with the records of Christian faith, and carrying the name of our Redeemer to the interior of Fezzau and Derfur. The Mabome tan pride that would disdaiu to accept a present from a Christian, would eagerly purchase them at a low price.

Mr. Bickersteth, in his special re

port of Church West African Mission, in Aug. last, says, "The Mahometans have made considerable progress by means of schools. The instruction which they give, is not gratuitous; but many of the natives are so sensible of the distinction which it confers in society, that they pay one or two slaves for the maintenance and education of each scholar. Yet it is important to consider that our progress will necessarily be slower in this mode of communicating religious truth. The Mahometan has not to encounter, like the Christian, temptations to change his religion, arising from natural corruption, or from the opposition of his countrymen. Indeed every worldly motive and temporal advantage strengthen his attachment to his creed." This may be deemed the last information which has been received on this subject, and tends to furnish suitable reflections on the condition of Mahomedism at the present day.

From these few sketches of the state of Mahomedism, and from the recollection that its power will expire in 50 years from this time, we may readily see the gradual progress of decline, and the approach of its fall. Those who have visited any part of that extensive Empire have continually afforded evidence for this suggestion; and whoever will take the trouble to consult what Historians have recorded, will be convinced, that the march of Time strides rapidly over its dominion, and marks, with the besom of unerring ruin, the ostentatious bulwarks of her unprincipled usurpation.

A. H.

ARCHITECTURAL INNOVATION. No. CCXI. Progress of Architecture in England in the reign of Queen ANNE. (Continued from lastVolume, p. 520.) ST. JOHN'S Church, Westminster,

continued. Crypt. Like all Vanbrugh's works, the basement has thoroughly engaged his attention. Extreme length, East and West, in three ailes, made by massive piers, with plain plinths and caps. At the narrowed part of the plan, by sweeps (already evinced), the ailes lessen, dimensions being less; three divisions, the centrical aile four ditto: the several arches and groins take oval forms. From these particulars it will

readily

readily be perceived that the effect of the scene is well adapted to carry on the interest already entertained for the main construction. Materials, to the Crypt, brick walls and piers, the dressings stone: above, the wholeelevation is stone work. It might be thought these particulars of the Crypt might have preceded that portion of the edifice already submitted to notice; but opportunity did not afford the means until this very hour.

Vanbrugh, thy honours I now trust will henceforth remain undisturbed, as well as the walls thou hast raised are calculated (with common necessary repairs) to last Time's tablets of possibility. Farewell good spirit, our theme is done!

-

Having brought forward such ample documents to guide us through this reign, selected from the most authentic sources, it becomes necessary to present a general epitome of the collection. when all centered, and, in in a manner ceased, in the Vanbrughian school. Thus horizontal rustics, without perpendicular ditto, plain or triple key stones, ditto with masque heads, strings, kneed architraves, plain friezes, plain or block, and scroll cornices, balusters, general independent scrolls, ditto inverted, festoons of flowers and drapery, guiderons, foliage, compartments, golloches, vases, land and sea monsters, flying cupids, and all the visionary catalogue of Gods and Goddesses, which have so long ruled the hemisphere of sculptural labours, to the almost total subversion of true costume and national instruction. As the account has been so recently closed with Sir John's Works, little more need be observed; but every particular constituting their chief features were vast, new, and surprising, even from the masked temple chimney expedients, the castle manifestations, or the display of attics in porticos, saloons, forums, and basilicæ, unrestrained by any subservient rules or proportions; direct application being out of the question, either of the Roman or Grecian masters.

(Progress of Architecture in the Reign of George I. in our uext.)

Again the warning voice sounds in our ears, "The Abbots Inn at Glastonbury is at last to fall." For some years this fatal hour has been put off (see Vol. LXXXII. Part II. p. 540), as though the hands holding its des

tiny were bound by a second-sight apprehension to refrain the fearful operation, or other cause, or still giving way to the humble solicitations of some feeling Antiquary, to preserve and save so much of delightful Architecture, expressive of the domestic skill of our ancestors, there being but few traits of such Works left among US. Surely this cry cannot be credited? a mere delusion!

It must be owned, however, that by long experience we find many possessors of Antiquities, when ruminating on their overthrow, either to gain a trifling view of further purchased land, a good look out East and West, through some low inhabited thoroughfare, or from a persuasion that new premises, built on the scite of the old, will let better, take time to consider before they strike the blow, which never can be recalled.

It becomes a question, who are those that in this day are so intent on mock imitations of our old Works, that neither the persuasion of friends, orridicule of the publick, can withhold them from plunging into the pursuit, expending at the same time princely fortunes on the futile undertakings; and those, maugre the prayers and intreaties of students versed in historic lore, mark their devastating track, by tearing down and levelling with the earth those family mansions, princely structures, or ecclesiastical piles, owning the taste of departed minds, and which are now consigned to their dominion?

Could we enumerate a list of the personages so engaged (as readily as set down an Antiquarian Prospectus of names ever zealous to further the wishes of imploring Artists and distant friends)," what a memorandum to gaze upon, to extol? surely noto condemn? yes, beyond all doubt— and cast from us the roll of perverted taste and heedless dilapidation? hesitate not, judgment is easily entered upon.-Here notice on this head terminates. AN ARCHITECT