distance. On approaching the pavilion, the gardener presented two bouquets to the prince, who offered the finest of them to the ambassador. We ascended by a narrow staircase into a pleasant little apartment, from which we had a most extensive view of the whole city. The floor was covered with carpets as usual, and the walls were decorated with small paintings. We were surprised to see in two niches, in the upper part of the room, a portrait of the emperor Alexander, and one of Bonaparte, the last of which was a striking likeness. The view of the town was not interesting: we saw nothing but walls and trees, the houses being all concealed from our view. The city is bounded on the north by mountains, whose bright red colour would lead the observer to suspect their volcanic character, if he were deaf to the thunder that rolls within their subterraneous caverns, and shakes the very foundation of the city. We did not experience any earthquake during our residence at Tauris, although we were told that these phenomena of nature were very frequent here; and the inhabitants say that a very violent convulsion takes place periodically at the expiration of every forty years, overwhelming the greater part of the city in ruins. They now expect this awful visitation in four years hence, and yet they show no symptoms of alarm; so singular is the combin ed effect of habit, of hope, and of attachment to the place of our birth! We saw an old Persian, who, during the last earthquake, had lain five days buried under the ruins, where he was found by mere chance. The climate of Tauris is in other respects heavenly, and it is said to have the effect of curing fever. As there were no chairs in the pavilion, Abbas-Mirza had the civility to remain standing. His highness at first asked the ambassador whether he did not wish that the gentlemen of the embassy should retire into another apartment, as that in which we were assembled was rather crowded, and it would be difficult to hand round refreshments; but his excellency very properly declared, that where

he was, his officers must be present also. The prince was not in the least discomposed by this answer, but, on the contrary, conversed with several of us. Some gentlemen of the mission, affected to consider this observation as betraying a want of good breeding and incivility; but allowing even that he did avail himself of the pretext of the apartment being crowded to get rid of us, ought this to be made a subject of reproach to him? Do they forget that he has been accustomed from his early youth to see the highest persons in the state standing in a court, or when in his apartinent, at a hundred yard's distance from him? Would not any person in his place have felt the inconvenience of being in a close and crowded room? The prince carried his delicacy so far as even not to notice that we were trampling his carpets with our boots, while the English themselves never enter his apartments but in red stockings. The preservation of this part of our costume was permitted, as a complimentary distinction to the ambassador, as well as the members of the Russian embassy; and it should be particularly remembered, that the watchful pride of the whole nation was extremely sensitive upon this very point of etiquette, of our pulling off our boots: it was, in truth, this apparently unimportant matter, which occasioned a total failure of our negociations with Japan and China. Abbas-Mirza conversed with his usual affability, while tea and refreshments were handing round; and we accidently discovered an honourable trait of his character, which in Persia excited our astonishment. The

*The author has omitted to state, or probably he was not aware, that the subject of these boots had undergone some discussion previously to the audience. The Russians insisted on appearing in their national costume, and the etiquette of the Persian court was dispensed with in their favour. -With respect to the British Mission, the case is different. Its members felt no hesitation in complying at once with a custom, the observance of which is, no doubt, proper, since it conveys a harmless demonstration of respect. Translator.

ambassador observed in the garden a projecting corner of an old wall, which spoiled the beauty of the surrounding objects, and disfigured the prospect. His excellency asked the prince why he did not order the wall to be pulled down? "Only concieve," replied his highness, "with a view of forming gardens on a grand scale, I purchased the grounds of several proprietors. The owner of that where the wall stands, is an old peasant, who has absolutely refused to sell his property to me, because he will not part for any price with an ancient patrimonial possession of his family. I must allow, his obstinacy vexes me exceedingly, and yet I cannot but honour him for his attachment to his forefathers, and still more for his boldness in denying me his ground. I must wait until the time when his heir will, perhaps, be more reasonable." Who would have expected to find so much feeling in despotic Asia?"

ART. IV.-The Influence of Civic Life, Sedentary Habits, and Intellectual Refinement, on Human Health, and Human Happiness; including an estimate of the balance of enjoyment and suffering in the different gradations of society. By James Johnson. Esq. Philadelphia: republished, 1820. BEFORE the publication of this volume, Mr. Johnson was already advantageously known to the public as the author of a very valuable work on the Diseases of Tropical Climates, besides some other productions which he appears to consider equally meritorious. With books that are purely medical we should not venture to interfere, leaving the discussion of their worthiness to the members of that genus irritabile' the doctors, who dispute in the Medical Recorder,--but this volume professing to be in ideas and language intelligible to all,' the readers of a miscellaneous journal have a right to expect some little account of it.

That it is to be a book of considerable success and importance we have the opinion of thel earned author himself, who with

enviable self-complacency, tells us that the manner in which his former attempts passed the ordeal of public opinion and reception can leave little doubt respecting the fate of the present work.' This confident prognostication will we trust be considered ample apology for the abundant extracts that follow; more particularly when it is remembered too that he assures us, 'The practical inferences contained in the follo ing essay form a part of the result of twenty-one years' extensive observation of man, in all stages of civilization and refinement, from the Savage of Nicobar to the Philosopher of Europe. During the above period, as Human Health was the author's primary object of study, so the Influences of Climate and modes of life on that health, were important subjects of investigation.

'The mass of observations, on which his positions were founded, were collected in active scenes of life, during personal visitations in many of the largest cities and societies of the world; and a considerable proportion of the morbid influences here delineated have been severely felt, in person, by the author. They are not, therefore, the creatures of imagination, or the theories of the closet. They are promulgated under the sole patronage of nature and truth.'

The passion which was originally and still is the prime mover to 'civic association,' he contends to be not fear, as is usually held by writers on political philosophy, but the mere love of talking, the 'colloquial cacoethes, which begins with the infant's prattle, and only ceases when speech and hearing are obliterated by extreme age or infirmity.'

This notion is rather novel, and in a work of theory would require investigation, but as Mr. Johnson is to be judged only as a didactic writer it matters not whether he assigns the right cause for the formation of civil society; the question is not whether we had better return to savage life, but how the maladies incident to man in a social state are best to be avoided or cured. He proceeds:

In man we can clearly distinguish three leading systems or series of parts, with their appropriate functions. The first is the organic system, comprehending the heart and vessels which circulate the blood and other fluids-the lungs, the digestive organs and the glands. These are not under the governance of the will, and perform their allotted functions, whether we sleep or wake. The second class comprehends all the voluntary muscles, by means of which we transport ourselves from place to place-construct our edifices and manufactures-lay waste empires in war, or cultivate the fields in peace! This is termed the animal system. Last of all comes the sentient and intellectual system, viz. the brain and nerves, The innumerable ramifications of the nerves, spread over the surface of the body, and crowded into the tissues composing the different organs of sense, convey to the brain, like faithful videttes, intelligence of every thing that passes in the world around us. From these impressions, the mind forms its ideas, its judgments, and its determinations. In the development of this system man excels all other animals, as much as the sun excels, in size and splendour, the meanest planet.

'Now these three systems, although apparently independent of each other, are yet linked in the strictest bonds of sympathy and harmony, and are perpetually influenced one by another. Thus, suppose a few grains of emetic tartar are introduced into the stomach, a part of the organic system, As soon as nausea takes place, the animal powers, or voluntary muscles are enfeebled, and the intellectual system, (or that through which the soul is manifested) even of the proudest hero, feels the shock, and lies prostrate with its suffering companions in the organic and animal life. Shakspeare, that accurate observer of nature, repeatedly exemplifies this remark, and particularly in the celebrated dialogue between Brutus and Cassius, relative to Cæsar: