They went to their graves dyed with blood. The family became numerous; And most of them turned out worthy men. Honour and reputation were dear to them all. That I came into this world." In the course of the poem, Khooshhaul boasts that, on his father's death, he became chief of the tribe, and ruled over thirty thousand Khuttuks; he also enumerates his horses, hawks, and hounds, proclaims the praise of his own hospitality, and reproaches some of his kindred, who had gone into the service of Aurungzebe. Into the hands of this sovereign he himself fell, and was confined for three years in the hill-fort of Givalior, during which period these historical elegies were composed. We will make another extract: "Whence has this spring appeared again, Which has made the country all around one rose garden. The anemone is there, the sweet herbs, the iris, and the basil, The jasmine, the daffodil, the narcissus, and pomegranate flower. The flowers of the spring are of all colours; But the cheek of the red tulip glows most among them all. The youths have bunches of flowers in their turbans. The musician applies his bow to his cheghauneh, Amail Khaun and Derry a Khaun were the heroes. They stained the valley of Kheiber with blood; It is now five years, that in those quarters, Every day has been heard the clashing of bright swords. Am I dead, or are those around me dead? I call aloud for troops till I am weary: But those around me are deaf both to complaints and reproaches." He closes his elegy in that unbroken independent spirit which characterized his busy life: "I alone "" I alone feel for the honour of our name; While the Eusofzyes are cultivating their fields at their ease. When life can no longer be held with honour. But the memory of Khooshhaul Khuttuck will remain.”’ The fifth chapter describes the religious sects, priests, and superstitions of the country, which vary little from those of other Mohammedans. The Afghauns are of the sect termed Soonnee, and their Moollahs are somewhat intolerant to the heretics called Sheahs, but less so to the Christians, who are not numerous enough to form a party. There are followers of Shumsee Tubreesee, a sort of deistical free-thinker, who are tolerant to persons of every persuasion; and another metaphysical sect exists, called Soofees, who, like our Berkeley, hold an immaterial pantheism, teaching that every thing is illusion, and every thing God, and that the phænomena of nature and of mind are but varied modifications of the one Divine Eternal Essence. They attach merit to a sort of contemplative devotion which is occupied in admiring the attributes of Deity, which is endeavouring to identify itself with the great whole, and to have no will but submission to the general tendency. Of this pious frame of mind, and this obedient resignation, the eventual reward is to be a re-absorption into the divine nature, out of which all individuality has emanated, and into which it will finally resolve, like drops of water that exhale from the ocean, and are again imbosomed. in its immensity. There are moreover teachers of a material pantheism, like that of Spinoza, who deny the doctrine of a future state; these are called followers of Moolla Zukkee. Many varieties also occur of believers, or miraculists, such as the followers of the saint of Chumkunnee; and a legendary work relating his miracles, which are attested confidently, by his disciples, and were wrought about fifty years ago, was presented to the author. This entire chapter is highly curious, and remarkably well composed: it favours the doctrine of those philosophers, who hold that all the leading sects of opinion are native every where, are necessary forms of human intellect, inborn cerebral varieties of the structure of the organ of idealization, which may adopt a phraseology influenced by the local language, and employ illustrations dictated by the local superstitions, but which must re-produce in all countries. idealists and materialists, deists and atheists, immortalists and mortalists, miraculists and anti-supernaturalists, in nearly regular regular though in unequal proportions. Miracles, according to the Soofees of Afghanistaun, are the virtuous actions of Deity, and the proofs of his moral attributes. The idealists are here, as every where, the favourite sect of the priesthood, and find in the clergy an eloquent if not a disinterested support. In the sixth chapter, the hospitality and the rapacity of the nation are ascribed to the imperfection of the law called Pooshtoonwullee, which tolerates private redress of injuries, and encourages family-confederacy for such purposes. The seventh chapter considers other manners and customs, and is needlessly detached from the foregoing. Slavery subsists, but in a mitigated form. The want of poor-laws is commonly the cause of perpetuating slavery. Who is to be responsible for the maintenance of the idle, the orphan, the sick, the decrepid, the aged poor? The master, or the parish? In the first case, men are called slaves; in the second case, free. The inhabitants of towns are described in the eighth chapter; they rise at twilight, go to prayers, breakfast, and then walk from their houses to their shops, which are remote. They take a luncheon and a nap about noon, close the day of toil with evening-prayers, and then have their principal meal called Shaumee. They bathe generally twice in a week, and always on Fridays: the public baths are open to the poor for a penny, to the rich for a shilling, and at certain hours to the women. The love of prospects is termed in their language Sail, and is quite a national passion. Every man has a garden out of the town, on a hill, and an alcove commanding a distant view. Always on Friday, which is their sabbath, parties are made to these prospect-stations, or jaunts are taken to more distant points of scenery.- Singular forms of bodily exercise are in use, which are detailed (p. 264.) with the recommendation of introducing them in Europe: they being found conducive to health and to military utility. Other sports abound. The dancing is commonly performed by boys; and vices, here justly deemed unnatural, there pass for instinctive, and are practised with disgusting publicity.' Great people differ not much in their manners from the numerous classes, but affect splendor and magnificence.-To the trade of Caubul, to its husbandry, and to its imported population, successive chapters are devoted, and illustrated by coloured engravings. Book the third treats, in six chapters, of the Afghaun tribes individually it would form a very important and instructive catalogue to any person, or official board, that was intrusted with the administration of the country: but the little varieties of costume and ferocity, which distinguish these provincial *6 hordes, hordes, are little adapted for European attention. Excellent coloured engravings illustrate the descriptions of the text; and an account, at p. 432, 433,, of the antiquities of Ghuznee forms a very interesting episode. Book iv., in seven chapters, treats of the Provinces. Bactria, the Uzbeks, the Eimauks, the Hazaurehs, Heraut, Seestaun, Belochistaun, Lower Sind, Upper Sind, Moultaun, Lya, and Cashmeer, pass successively in review. Of Bokhara it is said, (p. 472.) that it is more populous than any English town except London; that it contains numerous colleges which can accommodate from 60 to 60o students each; that it abounds with caravanserais, where merchants from the remotest extremities of the antient world are in the habit of meeting; and that all religions are fully tolerated by a prince and a people zealously attached to their own. A valuable notice occurs of the constitution of Sind, which is governed by a triumvirate, or directory of three persons, each of whose situations is separately heritable. A curious passage, which may amuse and instruct our shawl-manufacturers, is to be found at p. 508., in the description of Cashmeer. The fifth book discourses, in seven chapters, of the Royal Government of Caubul: but, as this account applies to an interrupted dynasty, it can no longer be confidently trusted as describing the actual condition of the country. An Appendix concludes the work, which contains; 1. A History of the Kingdom of Caubul; 2. Narrative of a Journey in these Parts accomplished by Mr. Durie; 3. An Account from native Information of several neighbouring Countries; 4. A Geographical Memoir by Lieutenant Macartney, relative to the Construction of the Map; and, 5. A Pushtoo Vocabulary, which establishes the claim of the Afghaun language to be a mother-tongue. On the whole, this is a well-executed volume, and forms an important contribution to our knowlege of the remoter Asiatic countries: indeed, geography seldom has to boast so tasteful, so valuable, and so complete an accession of record. It remains for the administrations of London and Calcutta to concert some method of turning to use the knowlege which they now possess of the intervening territory. Might not a regular overland-conveyance between the two cities be established; if not in the form of mail-coaches, yet of mail-caravans? Perhaps it would be worth while to inflect the line of progress through Mecca; in which case, the Mohammedan pilgrims of the East would avail themselves regularly of the institution in great numbers. It would not be difficult for the British govern ment to obtain by negotiation a permission to run its coaches REV. MAY, 1817. C from from Antwerp to Belgrade, or its steam-barges down the Danube and across the Euxine. Along the whole line of road, English inn-keepers, and English accommodations, and English bankers, would insensibly extend; and, if our own missionaries were instructed to recommend to their converts a pilgrimage once in their lives to Canterbury, the benediction of civilization, as by the pontiff of Rome, would be conferred on countless barbarian travellers, if not by the prayers of religion, yet by their observation of our country. ART. II. The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. F.R.S. &c. Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the Court of France, and for the Treaty. of Peace and Independence with Great Britain, &c. &c. Comprising a Series of Letters on Miscellaneous, Literary, and Political Subjects: written between the Years 1753 and 1790; illustrating the Memoirs of his public and private Life, and developing the secret History of his Political Transactions and Negociations. Now first published from the Originals, by his Grandson, William Temple Franklin. 4to. pp. 449. 21. 28. Boards. Colburn. 1817. W ITH the name of Franklin are associated many important recollections. Great events are attached to it; and those events are such as we contemplate with pure satisfaction. They are not the trophies of war, stained with blood and rapine, from which the good and the wise recoil with sorrow and disgust: his glory is of a milder and more beneficent kind: the wreath which binds his brow is the wreath of humanity: his battles were fought in the field of reason; and the victories which he obtained were gained over the efforts of tyranny, ignorance, and intolerance. The motto, which Turgot placed under his portrait, is characteristic of his fame: "Eripuit cælo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis." His memory is embalmed in the history of his country; and, instead of being obscured by the revolutions of ages, it is likely to gather increased splendor as generations yet unborn, and ages yet to come, shall make farther additions of magnitude and interest to the importance of the American Revolution. By the publication of the present volume, the elevated reputation of Franklin for virtue, for knowlege, for probity, and for talents, will suffer no diminution; since it bears ample testimony to the fertility of his mind, to the solidity of his judgment, to the justness of his views, to the amenity of his manners, and to his ardent desire of promoting the happiness |