law, or other pretty words where the full stops, noble revolution, the Anglo-Saxons next prego on top of the letters or underneath them, pared to have an innings. They discarded instead of at the side, and the commas are the beautiful and immoral Elfrida of our unplayfully interspersed among the meandering vexed schooldays in favor of a colorless and syllables, we know at once that that is an ar- unpronounceable Elfthryth; they "threw ticle intended to be skipped, and we skip it back" (as the Darwinians say) from Lady Godiaccordingly with great unanimity. Dr. W. W. va to the terrific Godgifu; and they reverted Hunter, the bête noire of the old Indian civil- from Awdrey, short for Etheldreda, to the primiian, is a mighty reformer in this respect. He tive barbarism of an East Anglian Ethelthryth. would have us spell Meerut Mirath, and Kur-I don't deny that our early English ancestors rachee, Karachi. Now, this sort of purism is themselves were bold enough and linguists all very well in technical literature and in the enough to use undismayed these fearsome Proceedings of the Royal Asiatic Society: no-compounds of discordant consonants: body (except the experts) ever reads them, and what is more, after paying due heed to the so the barbarous jargon of the superfine ped-minute instructions of Mr. Ellis and Mr. Swee ants does nobody any serious harm there.arcades ambo-I even know how to pro But when it comes to poisoning the mind of nounce them myself with tolerable correctness, youth with Kwong-fu-tzi instead of the familiar because I happen to be personally interested Confucius, turning the Great Mogul of our in- in Athels and Ethels. But I don't expect nocent boyhood into an unpronounceable other people to share my hobby; and I do Mughal, and disfiguring the delightful advent- maintain that the proper place for such strange ures of Haroun-al-Rashid by a pedantic pep- and un-English-looking words is in technical pering of his name with assorted dots, commas, literature, that they are of use to the Angloand accents, we all feel that accuracy itself, Saxon scholar alone, and that they merely precious as it doubtless is, may yet be pur- tend to deter, dismay, mislead, and dischased at too great a cost. What possible gust the average modern English reader. good can it do to sprinkle the Arabian Nights And when it comes to Pali and Coptic, to with somebody's impracticable system of cuneiform inscriptions and Egyptian hierotransliterating Arabic, with the sole result that glyphics, the attempt thus to force down our 'ngenuous youth will be deterred at first sight throats, like a nasty bolus, the results of an y the unfamiliar appearance of the One-eyed alien and specialist research can have no Calender in his new dress, and give to the hid-effect save that of checking and preventing eous hash of consonants and vowels some the diffusion of knowledge. If you want to sound far more unlike the original Arabic make any subject popularly comprehensible than even the first crude attempt of the early translators?

and popularly interesting, you must divest it of all that is harsh, crude, technical, and dull; you must translate it freely from the jargon o the specialist into the pure, simple, idiomatic English of everyday conversation.

The fact which all these good people seem to forget is simply this, that English is a distinct and separate language, and that no Englishman-not even a pedant-can be im- One word as to the general underlying prinpartially versed in Greek and Sanskrit, Cree ciple which pervades all these manifestations and Objibway, Hittite and Assyrian, Chinese of superfine English. They are all alike the and Hottentot, Welsh and Gaelic, all together. result of taking too much trouble about mere Life is short, and Cardinal Mezzofanti left no expression. Just as self-consciousness in issue. Greek and Latin, French and German, manner produces the affected airs and graces, are quite as much as most of us find time to the poses and attitudes, the laughs and giggles, cram into the threescore years and ten of of Miss Jemima, so self-consciousness in modes human existence according to the Psalmist. of expression produces the absurd over-particAnd indeed, we have all seen how this modern ular nicety of the national schoolmaster and transliterating craze first set in from small the educated pedant. Always inquiring anxbeginnings. It was the Hellenists who started iously whether this, that, or the other word or it; they thought it fine to talk about Thuky-phrase is absolutely correct, according to their dides. This was such a brilliant success for the man who originated the mania that some body else bethought him of capping it by writing Thukydidês. Once the ball was thus set rolling, we went rapidly through all the variations of Thoukydidês and Thoukudidês, of Eschylus, Aischylus, Aischulus, and Aischulos, which latter monstrosity I have actually seen in printer's ink, staining the virgin purity of good white paper.

The Hellenists having thus achieved a

own lights, such people go wrong through the very force of their desire to go right, often coupled with an inadequate sense of the deepest and inmost underlying grammatical and etymological meaning. In all these matters, first thoughts are best. Very young ladies in their letters are always falling into ingenuous errors, due to the bad habit of thinking before they speak; they write first, "His heaith was drunk," and then, alarmed at the apparent inebriety of that harmless past participle, alter

it incontinently to "His health was drank." He had come from the far distant city of They correct" Between you and me" into Shiraz, where his family held an honorable "Between you and I," and substitute "elder " position, claiming, indeed, to trace their for "older," or "less" for "smaller," on the descent from the great Prophet himself. strength of obsolete rules imperfectly under- Thoughtful and devout from his childhood, stood from Lindley Murray. It is just the Mirza Ali Mohammed had zealously and same with older and more learned pedants. regularly practised all religious duties conInstead of "These sort of people go any-sidered binding on an orthodox Mussulman. where," they write "This sort of people goes He had received a liberal education, and while anywhere "an impossible idiom in speaking still a mere boy had eagerly examined and -not perceiving that popular instinct has weighed every new set of ideas with which he rightly caught at the implied necessity for a came. Christians, Jews, Fireplural subject to the really and essentially worshippers-he conversed with them all, and plural verb. They insist upon replacing sound studied their books. But the study which the and sensible current phrases by stiff and awk-young scholar pursued with special delight ward hothouse idioms. They object to our was one that seems to have a peculiar charm talking about the vandalism of railway con- for the Asiatic mind--that of the occult scitractors, apparently on the somewhat grotesque ences, and especially the philosophic theory ground that the historical Vandals never in their lives constructed a railway. But if we are invariably to use words in none but their primitive and naked etymological sense-if we are to give up all the wealth of metaphor and allusiveness which gradually encrusts and enriches every simple phrase-if we are to discard "worsted" because it is no longer spun at Worstead in Norfolk, and eschew "Gothic" because a distinguished scholar considers the Goths were not really such goths after allwhy, all our writing in future will tend to become as dull as ditchwater.-Cornhill Magazine.

THE STORY OF THE BÂB.

of numbers with the mysterious meanings attached to them. Up to the time of his visiting the shrine of the Prophet there had been no indication of any departure from the faith of his fathers. But this pilgrimage, instead of confirming his faith in Islam, had a quite contrary effect. While still in the holy city, and still more on the return journey, he had begun to confide to a select few views which attracted and delighted them, not more, perhaps, by their breadth and freedom than by the vague mystery in which they were still wrapped.

His decisive breach with the old faith was not far distant. Tarrying at Bagdad on his way home, he turned aside to visit Koufa, a shrine almost as sacred as Mecca itself. Here Ali, the brave and faithful son-in-law of the Prophet, had fallen by the hand of the assassin; and amid the silence and desolation of the ruined mosque the young Mirza passed many days in meditation and mental conflict. Should he proceed in the path that seemed opening before him, the fate of Ali might, most probably would, be his own. Were those new ideas that were filling his mind-was that place among his fellows to which perhaps he aspired-worth the risk? He must have judged that they were, for from that time he gave no sign of wavering or doubt.

WHO or what is the Bâb? This question will probably be suggested by our title to not a few readers. The word-meaning, in Arabic, "a gate "-is the title of a hero of our own days, the founder, if not, of a new religion, at least of a new phase of religious belief. His history, with that of his first followers, as told by M. le Comte de Gobineau in his "Religions et Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale," presents a picture of steadfast adherence to truth (as they held it), of self-denial, of joyful constancy in the face of bitterest suffering, torture and death, as vivid and touching as any that are found in the records of the heroic days of old. We have been accustomed to claim it as an argument for the truth of our Christianity that its believers have been strong to suffer martyrdom for its sake. But here we have not men only, but tender and delicate women and little children, joyfully enduring torture, "not accepting deliverance," for the sake of the faith that was in them. But our before. purpose is not to philosophize or to moralize, but to tell the story. Here it is.

Among the crowd of pilgrims who flocked to Mecca in the summer of 1843 was a youth who had then hardly completed his nineteenth year.

Still journeying homewards, Mirza joined, at Bushire, a caravan in which he made many disciples. Arrived at Shiraz, his first overt act was to present to his friends his earliest written works. These were two: a journal of his pilgrimage and a commentary on a part of the Korân. In the latter the readers were amazed and charmed to find meanings and teachings of which they had never dreamed

From this time he began to teach more publicly; and day by day larger crowds flocked around him. In public he still spoke with reverence of the Prophet and his laws; wnile in more private conferences he impa

is

disciples those new ideas which were, perhaps, not yet very clearly defined in his own mind. Very soon he had gathered round him a little band of devoted followers, ardently attached to himself, and ready to sacrifice wealth, life, all, in the cause of truth. And throughout the great empire men began everywhere to hear of the fame of Mirza Ali Mohammed.

number which must rule in all earthly arrangements. The year should have 19 months, the month 19 days, the day 19 hours. Each college of priests of the new faith should consist of 18, with a president who should be the culminating point of this mysterious number. Men of all ranks and occupations-lawyers, doctors, tradesmen, mechanics-were to order There was much in the young teacher him- their business with supreme regard to 19. self, apart from the subject of his teaching, to The great book of the faith was to consist, account for this rapid success. Of blameless when complete, of 19 chapters, each divided life; simple in his habits; strict and regular into 19 sections. Of this book the Bâb wrote in all pious observances, he had already a only eleven chapters, leaving it to the great weight of character to which his extreme youth Revealer to complete the mystic number. added a tenfold interest. But in addition to And, most important of all his applications of these things, he was gifted with striking beauty this theory, he himself was not the sole meof person, and with that subtle, winning sweet- dium of the new revelation; the full truth beness of manner so often possessed by leaders ing embodied in the number of unity, of which of men, and to which, more than to the most he was the "point," a title by which he began weighty arguments, they have often owed their at a very early stage to be designated by his power. Those who knew him say that he followers.

could not open his mouth without stirring But while giving forth his new doctrines as hearts to their depths; and even those who re-revelations from God, he earnestly pressed mained unconvinced agree in saying that his eloquence was something beyond conception. Ere long, Mirza assumed the title by which he has since been known throughout Persiathe Bab-that is, "the Door," the only one through which men can reach the knowledge of God. It may be well to give here an outline of what the Bâb did teach.

this consideration: that man can know but imperfectly till absorbed into the Creator, and that therefore his chief aim should be to love God and obey Him, and to aspire. The small amount of worship, strictly so called, which he enjoined, was to be performed in richly decked temples, with music and singing. Great faith was to be placed in talismans of prescribed forms, engraved with mystic numbers, and constantly worn. Like Mohammed, the Bâb strongly enjoins benevolence; but at the same time he strictly prohibits begging, and commands all to work. In his code there is no death penalty; offences being punished chiefly by fines calculated on the sacred number 19.

He believed in one God, eternal, unchangeable, Creator of all things, and into whom all shall finally be re-absorbed. He taught that God reveals His will to men by a series of messengers, who, while truly men, are not mere men, but also divine: that each of these messengers-Moses, Jesus, Mohammed--is the medium of some new truth, higher than that There are three points in particular in which brought by the one who preceded him; that the reforms proposed by the Bâb cannot fail, he himself, the Bâb, though claiming divine so far as they gain ground, to have a mighty honors while he lived, was but the forerunner effect on society. In the first place, he of one greater than he, the great Revealer- abolished polygamy; that is, he so strongly "He whom God shall manifest," who should discountenanced it that his followers univercomplete the revelation of all truth, and pre-sally regard it as a prohibition. In close conside at the final judgment, at which all the nection-almost as a necessary accompanigood shall be made one with God, and all evil annihilated.

ment of this-he forbade divorce; that festering sore which corrupts the mass of Persian society to its very heart, and makes pure family life almost impossible. His third revolutionary step was in the same direction. He abolished the veiling of the women; a custom which our author believes, from personal observation as well as on other grounds, to be or also a source of incalculable evils. So far from encouraging their wonted seclusion, the Bâb will have women converse freely, though prudently, with men, and in enjoining the faithful to practise abundant hospitality, and to have daily at their table as many guests as their means will allow (always with due regard to the mystic number), he specifies that some of the guests should be women.

One of the most marked and singular characteristics of his system is the prominence given in it to that mysterious and fanciful theory of numbers which had always had so great a charm for him. Taking various forms of the name of God-ahyy, meaning "the giver of life;" wahed, "the only One; that which is a most sacred formula, Bismillah elemna elegdous, "in the name of God, highest and holiest "he shows that the letters composing each of those names, taken by their numerical value, make up the number 19. This he therefore concludes is the number which lies at the foundation of all things in heaven and earth, the harmony of the universe, the

Some of these innovations were probably | obedience to the order, and stayed at home; the result of his study of European books. but his followers felt by no means bound either But the considerate kindness of all his rules to follow his example in this respect or to keep for women, and his invariable tenderness in silence. Conversions increased day by day everything that concerned children, must have among the educated class, and even from had a deeper source. One can hardly fail to among the priests themselves. see that in these respects he had imbibed something of the spirit of the Gospel; and the regret arises irresistibly, that where he had seen and appreciated so much, he had not grasped the whole.

And now the young enthusiast, who, like Paul at Rome, though confined to his own house, was not forbidden to receive any who came, began to bring forward much higher claims for himself. He was not, as he had at first thought, merely the Bâb-the gate into the knowledge of the truth; but the POINT, the source of truth, a manifestation of God. And at this stage he received from his disciples a new title, "Sublime Highness." But his first title is that by which he continued to be known to the uninitiated, and by which he is still spoken of throughout Persia.

To return to the story. While the fame and popularity of the young preacher were daily increasing, his bold exposure of the vices of the clergy aroused against him their bitterest enmity. The magistrates of the city also began to take alarm; for if the people, never too amenable to lawful authority, should cast them selves at the feet of this irrepressible youth, and follow his lead, where would the thing Leaving the leader of the movement meanend? It was therefore agreed, after many while in his retirement, we are now to see how anxious consultations between rulers and his cause spread by means of his first missionclergy, to make a double representation and aries. The Bâb's chosen band of apostlesappeal to the Crown on the one side in the those who, with him, completed the circle of interest of the State and civil order; on the truth-numbered, of course, eighteen. Three other in that of religion endangered.

The Bâb, aware of what was going on, despatched a counter-appeal. He represented the evil brought on the nation, and the hurt done to true religion, by the corrupt lives and teaching of the clergy; told how he, sent by God with the remedy for these evils, had already triumphed over all the Moullas of Shiraz, and begged that he might be brought face to face in presence of the king, with all the Moullas of the empire, professing his readiness to answer with his life if he did not put them also to silence.

of these fill a conspicuous place in the story.

The first was a Moulla, from Khorassan, Houssein Boushrewyeh, a man of strong, decided character, and studious, like his master, from his childhood. He had come from his distant home to see and hear for himself the great teacher; had cautiously and slowly weighed all his arguments; but, once convinced, had thrown himself into the cause with utter, unreserved devotion. The second of the missionaries was Hadgy Mohammed. Ali, of Balfouroush; a man as learned, as devoted, as zealous as the first, and held in profound veneration as a saint of the first order. The third is-next to the young leader himself— the most striking and interesting figure in this story: a woman, young, beautiful, gifted, learned; full of an ardor as unquenchable, a courage as indomitable, as that of her master; a woman who, had she been born in Europe, would have ranked with our most honored heroines of this or of any age.

This double appeal caused the king and his advisers some perplexity. The Government was bound, of course, to protect the orthodox religion; but at the same time they had no objection to seeing a check given by any means to the power and pride of the clergy. The Prime Minister had almost decided on allowing Ali Mohammed to come to Teheran, but a far-seeing old Sheykh turned him from his purpose. He reminded him that they This Eastern heroine was born into a knew nothing of these new doctrines or of the priestly family of high position in the town of aims of their author. He represented the Kazwyn. She received from her parents a danger of a religious war, if the priests should name given by many a father and mother, in be provoked to appeal to the people against spirit, if not literally, to a baby daughter, the Government. The result was a com- "Crown of Gold." From her earliest years promise. The Prime Minister wrote to the the little Golden Crown proved no common Governor of Shiraz that there must be no more child. Naturally gifted with mental powers of public discussions of the new doctrines, and a very high order, she had in her own family that, until further orders, the Bâb should not the best possible opportunity for cultivating leave his own house. The decision was re- them; and she used it to the utmost; pursuceived with indignant discontent by the Moul-ing, eagerly and successfully, paths of knowllas, who declared, not without reason, that edge not very commonly trodden by women of such protection of the true faith was a mere any country. Her father, a distinguished mockery. On the other side there was open | lawyer; her uncle, the leading man of the triumph. The Bâb, indeed, gave prompt city; and her cousin, Moulla Mohammed-all

men eminent in learning-delighted in dis-, enlightened understanding of the saying, "He cussing abstruse questions on points of theol- that loveth father and mother more than me is ogy, philosophy, or law; and Golden Crown, not worthy of me," act as heartily according while still very young, was able to sustain her to its spirit. part in such discussions with a wonderful power and acuteness. She was not only the pride and delight of her own family; not only the special pride and delight of the young Moulla Mohammed, to whom she was early married; but the whole city was proud of its Golden Crown; and only wondered whether to praise most her surpassing beauty, her lovely character, or her wonderful mental gifts.

This strange

While the Bâb, then, remained in a manner quiescent in his house at Shiraz, these three missionaries were spreading his principles far and wide through the empire. Moulla Houssein began his campaign at Ispahan; where he speedily succeeded, even beyond his hopes. Next, at Kashan, crowds flocked to hear, and many disciples were made. From Kashan, following the orders of his master, he went to Teheran. But in the capital it was necessary It was natural that, when the fame of the to go to work more cautiously. He made no Bâb began to spread abroad, the new religion attempt to preach in public, but his days were should be discussed with interest in this fam- occupied, from morning to night, in holding ily. His wise and liberal views as to the so- confidential interviews. Among the many cial position and well-being of women at once whose curiosity was awakened were the king commended themselves to the enlightened himself, Mohammed Shah, and his prime minmind as well as to the womanly heart of Gol-ister, Hadji Mirza Aghassy. den Crown. She opened communications with pair demand a word of notice. the new teacher, and very speedily became a The king, naturally gentle and somewhat thorough convert. But a nature like hers feeble in character, and suffering constantly could not rest in mere beliefs. She felt con- from wretched health since his childhood, was strained to communicate what she knew; and habitually tolerant of all manner of disorders ere long she was seen in public places, ex--not of set purpose, but from utter lack of pounding, to ever-increasing and admiring energy or interest. With spirits depressed by crowds, the new doctrine, and giving to the his almost incessant suffering, yet with a cravviews of the leader a more emphatic sanction ing for love and sympathy, he found what met than any arguments could have conveyed, by the need of his clinging and feeble nature in herself appearing unveiled. It was well for Mirza Aghassy. His tutor in childhood, then the cause of the Bâb that it was such a face his familiar friend and counsellor, and in procthat was the first to illustrate his theory. Con-ess of time his Prime Minister, this man had verts multiplied in Kazwyn day by day. become, in plain fact, his god. For MohamBut, alas! for the pride of her house. med Shah's religious views were of a very Words fail to tell the horror and dismay with loose and easy kind. He believed that Divinwhich father, husband, and uncle beheld this ity with all its powers was embodied in the practical outcome of what had probably ap- Sages; and as Aghassy was the greatest of all peared to them harmless and interesting specu- the sages, how could he but be god? It lations. To them their Golden Crown was seems doubtful whether the Hadji himself did tarnished indeed, and had brought irretrievable not share this belief of his patron. But surely disgrace on herself and on them. But in vain never was there a stranger god than Mirza they spent themselves in entreaties, in remon- Aghassy. For the most outstanding feature strances-even in threats. The young prose- of his character-the ruling principle of his lyte remained unshaken. How, indeed, could life-was his habit of turning everything into she draw back? For she was now numbered a joke. He made jokes at his own expense; among the mysterious 19-herself a part of he invariably used mocking epithets in speakthe embodied revelation. She had received a new name, Gourret-ûl-Ain, the "Consolationof-the-Eyes," and with it full powers to act as an accredited apostle of the new faith. It was no longer a matter of choice with her. As the Sent of God she must fulfil her mission, though in doing so she should wrench asunder the strongest and tenderest ties. She put an end to the conflict by bidding a final farewell to her family, and giving herself entirely to her sacred work.

Of course, Golden Crown was led away by her enthusiasm. No doubt it was a mistake for a young wife in the nineteenth century to make. Let those blame her, who, with more

ing of his children and friends; and it was this persistent habit of refusing to take any thing seriously. This easy-going tolerance of and indifference to all shades of opinion, religious or political, determined the character of his administration, and formed a more serious obstacle in the way of the Bâbist apostle than declared opposition could have done.

Moulla Houssein brought a message of the utmost submission from the Bâb. His sincere desire, he said, was to add strength and glory to the throne. He represented that public opinion had already declared in favor of the new doctrine, and how desirable it was to support views in accord with those of most en