themselves its probable consequences may appear. And perhaps our God may hereafter see fit to point out some other way,more apparently and openly illustrative of His Almighty Power, for the extension of the Gospel throughout these once favoured regions. All things are alike easy to Him. As one, however, brought up from his youth to the profession of arms, it will not be unbecoming in me to point out, in a loose sketch, such a general plan of operations for the conquest of Egypt and Syria. THE PYRAMIDS. "I mounted with no small labour to the summit of the highest of them called Cheops; and, with the genuine pride of an amateur, carved my humble name on one of its rude and massy stones; but I fear it cannot be said of me, as Horace ventured to say of himself, 'exegi monumentum ære perennius.' This is of little consequence; all my wish, all my hope is, that my name may remain, when not only this pyramid, but the whole world itself, shall melt with fervent heat;' that it may be written in the book of life, with a pen dipped in the precious blood of my Redeemer." We will not insist on the ridiculous point of view in which such writing places what is holy; but content ourselves with repeating, that in our minds it produces sensations which we can designate only by the epithet shocking. But having frankly expressed this sentiment, we shall endeavour to make such use of the volume as may convey to our readers a knowledge of its general.character and most interesting intelligence. HINDU THIEVES. Of Tanjore the following is told: "The whole country, from the gates of the capital to within a few miles of Tritchinopoly, is an almost uninterrupted desart waste, with only one village during this great extent of road-that of Seringapettah, celebrated for the dexterity of its thieves. Col. Blackburne related to me an amusing anecdote of their prowess. Some years ago, a detachment of the King's artillery, intend ing to halt there for the night, was advised of this propensity of the natives,and recommended to be well on their guard against it. The two officers in charge of the detachment, ridiculed and scorned the idea of these poor wretches (such they seemed to be) being able to rob the King's artillery, but took the precaution of placing sentries over all the tents, and a double one at that of the quarter guard, with orders, rendered unnecessary by the awakened pride of the sentries, to be more than usually watchful. The inhabitants, through the means of the native servants, heard that their skill in thieving 41 ATHENEUM VOL. 14. was set at nought, and their vanity was pro portionably piqued. Next morning,the officers rising early, missed nothing, and began to exult in their security, when one of the serjeants arrived, with shame and dismay pictured on his countenance, and informed them that the whole of the arms belonging to the main guard were missing, and that all the natives had abandoned the village. Evary search, though undertaken instantly, was in vain, and the detachment was compelled to march away unarmed, and fully aware of the reception they would be likely to meet with from their corps when their disaster became known. The manner in which this dexterous theft was achieved, long remained unknown; but many years afterwards, when the circumstance was almost forgotten, the villagers themselves voluntarily surrendered the arms to the authorities of the country, and declared they had taken them merely because their skill in thieving had been called in question; and observed in confirmation of this, that they had not taken a single article, with the exception of the arms, which they now restor ed. Being asked how they contrived to steal them from the centre of a tent, the tinels outside, they gave the following acguard sleeping around them, and two sencount: Several of them stripped themselves naked, and oiled their bodies over, that, if then approached that part of the tent where caught, they might not be easily held; they the sentry in the rear was posted, who, as usual, was walking about 20 paces backwards and forwards. The night was dark, and the most bold and dexterous among them advanced obliquely towards the tent, creeping on his belly, lying still while the sentry was pacing towards him, and only moving on, slowly and cautiously, when his back was turned. In this way he arrived at the tent, and his black body was, in the dark, invisible to the sentry. He now, with the utmost adroitness, lifted up a part of the side of the tent, having carefully removed one peg, and soon found that all the guard was asleep, relying on their double sentries. By this time the other villagers had followed their leader, and were lying in the same posture, with the head of each touching the feet of the one who had preceded him. In this way, the arms being slowly removed, without the slightest noise, by the most advanced thief, were, with equal caution, passed along from one to another, until the whole were secured, and the thieves retired as they came, unseen and unsuspected." Syrian couple were married, and we attended the ceremony. There was a good deal of mummery. Each of the parties placed a ring and a crucifix on the table, which having been consecrated, the principal Catanar proceeded to place the right hands of the young brides in the right hands of the bridegrooms, and also put a ring on the finger of each. After a short prayer, he threw a gold necklace, with a large gold crucifix, over the bridegroom's neck,and taking the bride's ring, he fastened it to a small gold chain, put it round her neck, and gave the ends of the chain into the hands of the bridegroom: he then threw the marriage veil over her head; and, after a few short prayers, the brides and bridegrooms brought offerings of money, for the Church and the Priests, and I know not so the ceremony concluded. whether placing the chain round the neck of the bride, and the ends of it in the hands of the intended, is understood to have any significant allusion; but certainly the conduct of the parties after marriage, so unlike what is the case in England, would lead one to conclude it. Here the wife is,I fear, little better than a slave; in England, that is as it happens."-(We shall not attempt to explain this hit.) ELEPHANT CARRIAGE. At Mysoor the scene was changed, and our author rode in the Rajah's extraordinary coach-thus described: "In the morning we took an airing in the Rajah's elephant carriage, which is by far the most magnificent conveyance I ever saw; the Genius of Aladdin could scarcely Thus much for the present; the volume being, in spite of its tone, too fertile of amusement to enable us to acquit ourselves of its notice in one Number. ORIGINAL POETRY. (Lond. Mag.) PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES, BORN JAN. 7, 1796. Britannia! tear thy laurel leaf, LINES ON THE MAUSOLEUM OF THE PRINCESS Alas! how many storm-clouds hang O'er every sunny day below! How many flowers die as they bloom! Young Love! how well thy smiles can cheer All other sorrows may we bear, But those in which thyself hast part. It is the monument where Hope VARIETIES. ORIGINAL ANECDOTES, LITERARY NEWS, INCIDENTS, &c. PROFESSIONAL CALENDAR. Sir, It has been said, that it is impossible for a person of any observation to be half an hour in a mixed company without being able to point out the profession of every man present. I have often felt the truth of this remark, and have sometimes been amused with noticing the influence that a professional life has upon the memory; teaching every one to chronicle events by some circumstance connected with his or her own pursuits, and forming what might be called a "Professional Calendar." Example will perhaps best explain the sort of natural artificial memory I wish to describe : world to have been in town; but the Dowager Lady S. was very ill; Lord S. would insist upon her staying with his mother; she thought she should have died of ennui. Luckily, Colonel B.... came down to that part of the world just when she was ready to hang herself,-he brought her the news-he told the story so well, she almost killed herself with laughing. Lord S. was quite angry to see her enjoy the fun so much, when his mother's life was in such danger. But, Lord! how could she help being amused? A hypochondriac agreed with her ladyship as to the date she assigned; he was confined to his room at the time, aud he rememI found myself the other evening in bered how bitterly cold it was-he nevthe midst of a very large company, er thought he should live thro' it. A among whom I had very few acquain- physician fixed the period of its occurtances, and had therefore leisure to a- rence in March, because he recollected muse myself in my favourite way: that having been so teased with hearing the is, by sitting in silent observation of the story over and over again from his pa various characters around me. Among tient these was a sort of influenza goother subjects of conversation, an event ing about at the time, and in the course in high life came upon the tapis, which, of his practice he had constantly reat the time it took place, had been dis- marked that these illnesses were most cussed in all circles, fashionable, litera- common during the prevalence of the ry, and political-in short had been the March winds. A New-market gentlereigning topic of the day. A gentle- man was positive that the news had man, who appeared to have forgotten it, first been given him on the race ground; inquired at what period it had happen- and a travelled fop affected to be totally ed, when every one seemed ready to ad- ignorant of all the particulars-it hapvance his own reason for the particular pened when he was on the Continent. remembrance of the fact. The year was A mercantile man, with a deep sigh, soon ascertained: A military man rec- said he had good reason to remember ollected that it was when he was quar- the day-it was the day on which a tered in Ireland; a naval officer, that it trading vessel from Liverpool was lost. was when he was stationed in the West- A member of parliament, who had hithIndies; the lawyer remembered that it erto listened in silence, agreed with the was just when he was called to the bar; last speaker, and settled the point, by the clergyman, that he was preparing assuring the company that it was the to take orders; and the city man, that day on which his present Majesty assuit was in the year of his mayoralty. med his full powers as Regent. But But some difficulties arose when the this esprit du corps is to be found in time was to be more particularly men- many situations at which I have not tioned, and the month, in which this hinted thus the theatrical man regiswell-remembered event took place. ters events by the opening and closing Lady S...... was pretty sure that it of the theatres; the collegian measures happened in the month of February, time by the terms and the vacations; because she recollected having been the judge by the assizes; the sportsman kept a prisoner in the North of Eng- by the grouse-shooting, the hunting sealand when she would have given the son, &c.; a young lady m Gus Iscariot one of the twe mentally refers to the year in which she was introduced; the married lady has a domestic calendar-remembers one event because it occurred just at the time her youngest boy was christened, another because it was the day on which her eldest son was sent to Eton, and a third because her child had the scarlet fever at the time. The dramatic author will tell you such a thing happened just when S...'s tragedy was rehearsed; the political writer that it was whenCanning's speech made such a noise in the world; and the literary man adds, that the first novel of the Great Unknown had just made its appearance; the monied man never forgets the era of an event that happened when stocks were uncommonly low; and the nervous lady reminds you that it was the day of the terrible gale of wind when a stack of chimneys were blown down in the next street, or the year in which there were so many dreadful murders committed that she really could not sleep in peace. -Lit. Gaz. Nov. "FINGERS WERE MADE BEFORE FORKS." This vulgar proverb has perhaps a more curious meaning than the generality of readers might suppose. Forks for the table have not been in vented much more than 200 years. In early times they were not known even at the entertainments of a sovereign; but the guest who sat nearest to a joint held one part with his fingers while he carved the other with his knife. They appear to have had their origin in Italy; and to have been introduced into this country about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign; but were not very common till after the restoration. ARTIFICIAL HALOES. The following experiment, described by Dr. Brewster, illustrates in a beautiful manner the actual formation of haJocs. Put a few drops of saturated solution of alum on a plate of glass, and in a little time it will crystallise in minute octohedrons. When this is held between the observer and the sun, or a candle, with the eye close to the smooth side, three beautiful haloes are observed at different distances from the luminous body. The innermost, which is the whitest, is produced by the images refracted by a pair of faces of the crys tals, not much inclined to each other; the second, which is more coloured, with the blue rays outwards, is form ed by a pair of faces more inclined; and the third, which is large, and highly coloured, by still more inclined faces. Each separate crystal forms three images of the luminous object, placed at points 129° distant from each other, in all the haloes; and as the faces are turned in every possible direction, the whole circumference is completely filled up. The same may be curiously varied by crystallising together salts of different colours. MARCHIONESS DE BRINVILLIER. Mary Margaret d'Aubray, daughter of the Lieutenant Civil Dreux d'Aubray, was in the year 1651 married to the Marquis of Brinvillier, son of Gobelin, president of the Chamber of Accounts, who had a yearly income of 30,000 livres.and to whom she brought a portion of 200,000. He was Maitre de Campo of the regiment of Normandy, and during the course of his campaigns became acquainted with one Gedin de Sainte Croix, who served as a captain of cavalry in the regiment of Trassy. This young officer, who was then a needy adventurer, became a steady visitor of the Marquis, and in a short time paid his addresses to the Marchioness, who lost her husband, after he had helped to dissipate his large fortune; and was thus enabled to enjoy her amours with greater freedom. Her indecent conduct, however, gave so much uneasiness to her father, that he procured a letter de cachet, had St. Croix arrested, and thrown into the Bastile. Sainte Croix there became ac quainted with an Italian, named Exili, who understood the art of preparing poison, and from whom he learned it. As they were both set at liberty after a year's imprisonment, Sainte Croix kept Exili with him until he became perfectly master of the art, in which he afterwards instructed the Marchioness, in order that she might employ it in bettering the circumstances of both. When she had acquired the principles of the art, she assumed the appearance of a nun, distributed food to the poor, nursed the sick in the Hotel Dieu, and gave them medicines, but only for the purpose of trying the strength of her poison, undetected, on these helpless wretches. It was said in Paris, by way of satire, that no young physician, in introducing himself to practice, had ever so speedily filled a church-yard as Brinvillier. By the force of money, she persuaded Sainte Croix's servant, called La Chaussée, to administer poi son to her father, into whose service she got him introduced, and also to her brother, who was then a counsellor of the parliament, and resided at his father's house. To the former, the poison was given ten times before he died; the son died soon after but the daughter, Mademoiselle d'Aubray, the Marchioness could not 'poison; because, perhaps, she was too much on her guard; for a suspicion soon arose that the father and son had been poisoned, and the bodies were opened. She would, however, have escaped, had not providence brought the villainy to light. Sainte Croix, when preparing poison, was accustomed to wear a glass mask; but as this once dropped off by accident, he was suffocated, and found dead in his laboratory. Government caused the effects of this man, who had no family, to be examined, and a list of them to be made out. On searching them, there was found a small box, to which Sainte Croix had affixed a written request, that after his death it might be delivered to the Marchioness de Brinvillier, or, in case she should not be living, that it might be burnt. Nothing could be a greater inducement to have it opened than this singular petition; and that being done, there was found in it a great abundance of poisons of every kind, with labels, on which their effects, proved by experiments made on animals, were marked. When the Marchioness heard of the death of her lover, she was very desirous to have the casket, and endeavoured to get possession of it by bribing the officers of justice; but as she failed in this, she quitted the kingdom. La Chaussée however continued in Paris, laid claim to the property ofSainte Croix, was seized and imprisoned, and con fessed more acts of villainy than were suspected; and was in consequence broke alive on the wheel, in 1672. A very active officer of justice, named Desgrais, was despatched in search of the Marchioness Brinvillier, who was found in a convent at Liege, to which she had fled from England. To entice her from this privileged place, Desgrais assumed the dress of an abbé, found means to get acquainted with her, acted the part of a lover, and having engaged her to go out on an excursion of pleasure, arrested her. Among her effects at the convent, there was found a confession, written by her own hand, which contained a complete confession of her crimes. She there acknowledged that she had set fire to houses, and that she had occasioned the death of more persons than any one expected. Notwithstanding all the craft she employed to escape, she was conveyed to Paris, where she at first denied every thing; and, when in prison, she played picquet to pass away the time. She was, however, convicted, brought to a confession of her enormities, became a convert, as her confessor termed it, and went with much firmness to the place of execution, on the 16th of July, 1676; where, when she beheld the multitude of the spectators, she exclaimed in a contemptuous manner, You have come to see a fine spectacle.' She was beheaded and afterwards burned. She might truly be called a monster in human shape.-Rec.R. FLORENCE. Extract of a Letter dated August 15, 1823. - - - “I was continually at the ruins of St. Paul's without the walls at Rome after the fire. All those beautiful columns, the finest in Rome, are destroyed, except one, which does not appear to be injured. The great door at the west end was burnt, as well as the roof of the transept, both ways; but the Baldaquin and high altar have not suffered. The mosaics at the end of the nave are not injured, nor is the west façade at all hurt. Gonsalvi who was in the greatest distress about it, went down to see it every three or four hours and shed tears at each visit. |