death; my thoughts glanced rapidly homewards, and to all I had left, and then, with something of a shudder, to the great change before me, and the awful presence I was about to enter; such, however, was the powerful excitement of my mind at the time, that the horror I felt was in fact, much less than, in reflecting upon it since, I could have thought possible. A short prayer was on my lips, and I believe I closed my eyes, but I could not and did not attempt resistance.'

The savage, however, felt that he was responsible to his master for the life of his prisoner, and sheathed his dagger, indemnifying himself for his reluctant forbearance by a shower of blows. Abuse and execrations accompanied this gratuitous barbarity, intermingled with intimations of what might be expected in the way of torture, from Mahomed Khan. Morning at length dawned, and those in advance having halted, the party joined, and the presence of the chief seemed to impose some restraint upon his followers. The shawls were loosened, the prisoners were allowed to wash and to arrange their dress, and they reached, without much additional suffering, the village of Gheeleewan. Here the Ketkhodah interfered in favour of the prisoners; they were committed to the care of less ferocious or better tutored guards, and at length reached the residence of Mahomed Khan.

Presently we were brought into the great man's presence. He turned round to look at us, and uttered some abusive expression; upon which signal our guards, in a moment drawing our bands tighter, began to belabour us both with short thick sticks, in a way which made me think they meant to beat us to death. Seyed Allee, losing courage, began to roar aloud, and swear that he was not in fault; and I cried out loudly," Khan! Khan! spare that unfortunate; look at these papers which I have here to show you, and afterwards do with us what you think fit." On this they stopt: and the Khan slowly muttered, "Ah wretch! what papers can you have, that should induce me to spare either him or you? Bring them along with me."

• With that he then rose and walked to another hut, to which we, still bound, were also taken. Here we found one of the prince's gholaums who had been sent in chase of us, and had brought the order which had induced the Talish mountaineers to use such diligence in pursuit of us. "Ah! my friend," cried the Khan, addressing him,

here they are; here, we have brought them all the way from Dees, in the country of Abbas Meerza; what think you of that? Who but the Talish could have done this? and who, even among them, but my brave fellows, who could have taken them from the very gates of Tabreez? Well, if this be not worth a khelut to me, you will do me little justice." "Barick illah! Barick illah!" cried the gholaum: "by the head of the shahzadeh, by the head of the king, you have done well, you have done wonders! Can it be? Are they here? By my own head, and by yours, I swear that the shahzadeh shall know of your merits." And thus they went (on) for several minutes, mutually

uttering compliments, oaths, and protestations; the mountain-chief magnifying the importance and difficulty of his achievement, the other swearing the prince should know of and appreciate the khan's merits. At last, turning to me, he exclaimed, "Tell me, unhappy wretch, what tempted you to this deed? How could you dream of such an act, and how did you do it? You must have had guides, and not only that, but wings." "Khan," replied I, "I am an English gentleman, who have been long travelling in Persia, through the whole of which I have met with favour and protection until I came to Gheelan. I have business with the English ambassador at Tabreez, to which city I was hastening some time ago, after having procured from Allee Reza Meerza the passport which I now tender you. I was afterwards uselessly and unjustly detained by him at Resht, when I thought proper to make my escape, as you have seen. This is the truth, and these papers will prove it."

The khan took the papers and handed them to a meerza, the tutor of his two sons, who were all in the hut along with the gholaum. The meerza declared their import, which agreeing with my story, the khan could not pretend ignorance any longer of my real character, but, gradually relaxing his severity to a cheerful tone, began to praise my dexterity and boldness in effecting my escape.

*

*

*

*

*

I complained to the khan of the blows and ill-usage I had met with from his servants, but he took all this very lightly. "Oh !" said he, "they are thoughtless young fellows; they did not know who you were; you must forgive them for my sake." I replied that, prisoner as I was, and totally in his power, I could insist on nothing; that what I told him appeared to concern his own honour more than mine; if he did not think that affected by consenting to such illusage to a person in some degree under his protection, I would say

no more.'

Remonstrance on the subject of the robbery was equally useless, and we admire the boldness, rather than the discretion, that ventured to threaten this thorough-bred brigand with an appeal to the court of Tehran. He even contrived, with some dexterity, to effect a petty but vexations depredation on his own proper account. Mr. Fraser's sketch-book, with drawings of costume, portraits, and studies of different kinds, had come under his notice, and attracted his attention. He asked for it as a gift; it was, of course, refused. He then begged permission to exhibit it to his wife, and managed to tear out about a dozen leaves, containing the most highly-finished and valuable figures.' This irreparable loss' was not detected till some time afterwards. Notwithstanding their previous fatigue, ill-usage, and want of rest, Mr. F. and his servant were again burried off after a hasty refreshment, and compelled, with all their bruises, to push forward towards Resht. At the village where they halted, their reception was hospitable, and they

learned for the first time the full extent of the danger they had incurred. The tribe of Kiskar Talish, of which Mahomed Khan was chief, had long been infamous for reckless cruelty. Both the Ketkhodah of the village and the gholaums assured Mr. Fraser, that his escape with life was an extraordinary instance of good-fortune; and that it was to be attributed only to the fact, that he had taken with him nothing of value. Had the prize been worth securing, he would have been effectually disposed of, on the principle that dead men tell no tales.

Mr. Fraser's main anxiety was concerning his servant, Seyed Allee, and for some time there was every reason to believe, that either mutilation or death would have been the penalty of his compliance with his master's schemes. All, however, terminated well. When Mr. F. returned to Resht, nearly the first information that he received, assured him of his freedom; his property was restored, the Talish were compelled to give up their plunder, indemnification was granted him for his additional expenses, and his servant was forgiven. He had gracious audience of the higher powers, and prepared to take his final leave of the province of Gheelan. Previously to his departure, a circumstance occurred, which seems to have put him rather unnecessarily out of humour. His semi-English friend, Meerza Reza, applied to him for the loan of ten tomauns, pleading the abject poverty to which he had been reduced by the merciless depredations of those in power, and assuring him of repayment at Tabreez. Now Mr. Fraser had-and this was perfectly well known to Meerza Reza-been run hard in his pecuniary resources, and was not altogether in a condition to spare a sum that cut deep into his remaining fund. On the other hand, the Persian had been very useful to Mr. Fraser, and was fairly entitled to something in the way of remuneration, since he was poor, and could not afford to render services for nothing. On the whole, we could have wished that Mr. F. had anticipated the application, and that Meerza Reza had not changed an affair of necessity into a swindling transaction, by affecting to give an order for the amount on his brother at Tabreez. As might have been expected, the paper proved worthless. For the rest, the meerza was an accomplished man; he read with discriminating admiration, the Paradise Lost and Pope's translation of the Iliad, studied Vince's Astronomy, and made judicious pencil notes in the margin of Lalla Rookh.

Mr. Fraser reached Tabreez, via Ardebeel, on the 12th of July, and no time was lost in laying a statement of all the circumstances connected with his detention before the Caimookan, or chief minister of Abbas Meerza.

A day or two afterwards,' says Mr. F., I accompanied Captain Willock and some other English gentlemen to dine with the caimookan, and that nobleman questioned me very minutely regarding all the circumstances of my detention. He dwelt particularly upon my attempt at escaping, my re-capture, and its consequences; but it was apparent to all, that though he affected to be greatly shocked at the treatment which I had experienced, and swore at and abused those who had inflicted it, the old gentleman seemed to feel something of a malicious pleasure, in bringing to notice the awkward and humiliating predicament in which I must have stood. He made me repeat, again and again, all that had happened at the moment of my recapture, as well as when I was brought before the Talish chief Mahomed Khan; and insisted on my describing my journey back to Resht, riding double with my servant, on the pack-horses that were pressed for us. "Wullah!" exclaimed he; "and did they really beat you? What, beat you hard? Poor fellow! what wretches! And they tied your hands too? Ahi, ahi! unfortunate and unhappy! you have truly suffered greatly. And the gholaums would only give one horse between you both? and they, forsooth, rode yours all the way? and your feet were sadly bruised? By the head of the shah, they deserve to be punished," With that he laughed heartily, and it soon became clear enough, that whatever sympathy or indignation he might profess, no hearty support was to be expected from him, and that he rather, on the whole, enjoyed the scrape I had got into.'

The Caimookan was an extraordinary man. He commenced his career in the service of an unsuccessful claimant of the Persian crown, but had since risen in the favour of the reigning family. The heir apparent, Abbas Meerza, gave him his unlimited confidence, and he is described as an able and patriotic minister. For some time previously to Mr. Fraser's visit, this governor had spent much of his time in retirement; and for this a singular motive was assigned.

The well known zealous missionary, the Rev. Mr. Martyn, when he resided in Persia, was accustomed to converse with the moollahs and doctors of the law, on points regarding the Christian and Mahomedan faiths; and the acuteness of his reasoning, combined with the perfect knowledge he possessed of Persian and Arabic, often confounded the most learned advocates of the Koran. When this gentleman quitted Tabreez, he left, in the hands of the moollahs, a treatise written in Persian, and containing a summary of the arguments he had used in conversation against the Mahomedan religion, requesting them to answer it if they could. There were many meetings and much consultation among the learned, but they could come to no satisfactory conclusion. The caimookan sent a copy of the treatise to some moollahs of equal repute for learning and orthodoxy, at Kerbela; but, after two or three years, it was returned without any reply that satisfied even themselves. He then resolved to take the cudgels up himself, and wrote much, but still without effect; and it

has been said, that this matter cost him more sleepless nights than all his state business.'

He was avowedly engaged in this bootless task, when Mr. Fraser reached Tabreez, but the master-piece of controversy was not destined to completion. He was attacked by the epidemic cholera, and the herculean remedies of the native doctors, cold water, ice, and verjuice, helped him forward to the grave.

The wild and mountainous region in which the river Tigris takes its rise, is tenanted by a race of Christians, said to be the descendants of that portion of the population which, occupying the country under the Greek emperors, retired before the desolation of Mahomedan invasion, and took refuge among those natural fastnesses. They are remarkable for ferocity, and, holding the Nestorian creed, feel even more satisfaction in putting a Romanist to death, than in martyrising a Mahomedan. They consist of four tribes, maintain their independence, and are under the government of an hereditary chief priest, patriarch, and warrior, who is forbidden, by his sacerdotal character, to marry.

In August 1822, Mr. Fraser left Tabreez, and returned, by way of Teflis, Odessa, and Vienna, to England.

Art. VI. 1. Woodstock; or, the Cavalier.

A Tale of the Year Six

teen Hundred and Fifty-one. By the Author of Waverley. In 3 vols. 12mo. pp 1033. Edinburgh, 1826.

2. The Hearts of Steel, an Irish Historical Tale of the last Century. In 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 994. London, 1825.

AN amusing article might be written on the vicissitudes of romance-writing, including the fashions, imitations, and plagiaries which have distinguished the history of this popular genus of composition. The last hundred and fifty years have witnessed some striking changes in this respect; and more than one of the species that have started up into conspicuous growth within that period, seem to have taken a permanent place in the hortus siccus of this very pleasant, but very unprofitable department of literature. Defoe, Swift, Fielding, Hamilton, le Sage, during the earlier section of this period, employed powers of a superior order in these vagaries of imagination. Richardson came later, and was followed by the operatives of the rural streets of Grub and Leadenhall. Miss Burney, Mrs. Radcliffe, and two or three other clever writers, kept attention awake in our younger days; but, in a general way, the market was miserably supplied, and matters seemed to