for us. With little knowledge of the classics, without which the wanderer in the Forum has pearls cast before him, the value of which he does not understand, the Chevalier flies to the Ciceroni. Those who have wandered round the Coliseum, and sought to be alone with those thoughts that will well up and give an inexpressibly sad pleasure to the pilgrim, have learnt to abominate the very name of Cicerone. Besides, it is well-known that each of these purveyors of old news takes his own view of the many doubtful sites; and hot have been the disputes respecting the Tarpeian Rock. With some few exceptions these men are illinformed, and many a traveller have we seen imposed upon as he wandered down the Via Sacra, taking one temple for another, giving to Venus the property of Diana, to Constantine the property of Trajan.

This work is divided into several chapters, some treating of politics, others of questions of social interest. The Chevalier seems to have been in high favour with a certain Nina, whom he visits in the absence of her father, and for whom at her death he eventually puts on mourning. The chapter on Lepre's dining-rooms is entertaining, and, we have no doubt, true. How disappointed would a genuine Londoner be when he turned out of the Piazza di Spagna, and found himself in the Condotti, and on Signor Lepre's stairs. No carpets, no handsome tables nor fine tablecloths, bad knifes and ugly forks, but capital cookery. Even he who has been accustomed to the petits diners of the Trois Frères Provençeaux, and he who has entrusted his appetite to the tender mercies of Charles Elmé Francatelli, would not fight shy of the admirably cooked macaroni, nor of the many good entrées daily produced in the cuisine of the renowned Lepre.

These travels are written in a pleasant vein enough, and though they are entitled to no further praise, many would purchase them as the latest news from Italy. Let such beware. Full many a year ago were these travels made, though the book may be a thing of yesterday. We have to complain of the romances introduced, though the Chevalier says they are from real life. They are obviously written to spin out the work into a volume, and are in themselves excessively dull; any man who has spent six months in Italy, could deluge Paternoster-row with volumes of these stories. There are only two excuses for the man who writes a book upon Italy. If, having travelled, like Whiteside, with a special purpose, he feels that he can give to the public some new information, or if, like Byron, Rogers, or Madame de Staël, he can, with the powers of an original mind, invest old and oft-described scenes with a new colour, raise up new pictures, and fling another garland over the grave of Italy.

Considering that the Chevalier is a Frenchman, he writes the English language with fluency, though not with grace; but in a colloquial strain that, when it comes to be used in speaking of Italy, seems vulgar and unnatural. We would wish to part with the Chevalier de Chatelain in good humour, and we promise him that if he will try a less hackneyed theme, and dive amongst the Ansayrii, or seek adventure in the desert of Sahara, we will read his next work.

RECENT TRAVELLERS IN THE EAST.*

WITH A PORTRAIT OF LIEUT. THE HON. FREDERICK WALPOLE, R.N.

Of late years the public has been inundated with Wanderings, Pilgrimages, Visits and Tours in the East-the increased facility given by railroads and steamboats for a trip down the Mediterranean, and for visiting Egypt and its Pyramids, making this now as easy as formerly it was to travel from the remote parts of England to the metropolis, that it might appear the East was well nigh exhausted of interest. Not so, however, when we come to look into the matter more fully. Throwing aside the productions of frivolous tourists and of bookmaking litterateurs, which are simply ridiculous or provoking from their impertinence and vanity, the amount of really good books, that is, works containing any new information and the result of the labours of intelligent travellers, is small indeed. Some modern works on the East have justly reached a more than ephemeral reputation. Of these, we may rank among the first, the narrative embodying the result of the important labours of Layard, -labours for which his countrymen owe him a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid; Mr. Kinglake's most original Eöthen, which clever book conveys to us the most faithful picture of the East which has perhaps yet been given to the world. Everybody has, or ought to have read, this lively and most amusing work. Eliot Warburton's "Crescent and the Cross," whose fascinating narrative is, perhaps, a little too highly coloured; Mr. Christmas's "Travels in the East and Balearic Islands," of which we have heard little or nothing since the publication of Brydone's amusing volumes half a century ago; Curzon's "Monasteries of the Levant," full of valuable information and abounding in interest of all kinds, conveyed in a very pleasing style; and, we ought to add, Aubrey de Vere's graceful volumes, "Picturesque Sketches, &c.," who places before us a succession of vivid sketches with the fancy of a poet and the eye of a painter-the production of a scholar of fine taste.

Our table is now again filled with new works upon the East, several of which deserve at our hands something more than a slight and passing notice. Of these the volumes of the Hon. Frederick Walpole, and those of Mr. Spencer, claim our especial attention.

Mr. Walpole is, without exception, as a traveller, one of the most remarkable for buoyant spirits, good humour, and perfect sang froid in moments of peril that it has ever been our good fortune to encounter. This coolness in danger is characteristic of the profession of which he is an ornament; and no doubt this quality, so highly prized by all

• The Ansayrii, and the Assassins, with Travels in the Further East, by Lieut. the Hon. Fred. Walpole, R.N.

Travels in European Turkey in 1850, through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace, Albania, and Epirus, &c. by Edmund Spencer, Esq. 2 vols. Colburn and Co.

Eight Years in Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor, from 1842-1850, by F. A. Neale, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. Colburn and Co. Kartoum, and the Blue

burn and Co.

VOL. XXX.

and White Niles, by George Melley, Esq. 2 vols. Col

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Orientals, was one cause of the high estimation in which he was held by the Ansayrii. His previous account of his Voyage to the Pacific (Four Years in the Pacific "), will have prepared our readers to expect from this new work, the narrative of no ordinary traveller. He had previously visited the East with Eliot Warburton, whose "Crescent and the Cross" gave us so pleasingly the result of that visit. Mr. Walpole having exhausted all the routes usually pursued by the traveller, now sought to penetrate into regions where no European footprints had preceded him. His frank and fearless nature won for him the confidence of the wild children of the mountains of the Assayrii, and obtained for him a respect and consideration perhaps never before paid to any traveller. The narrative is as natural as if he were relating the incidents of his travel in conversation; and there is an evident air of truth about it which is very pleasing. We should characterize his style as partaking of the qualities of Kinglake and Warburton; he unites the originality of the one with the poetical feeling of the other. It is to be regretted that he did not more rigidly revise his work, however, which is sometimes careless, a fault which might have been so easily corrected. It would seem that Mr. Walpole passed on this his second visit to the East nearly two years. As we have observed, our adventurous traveller, bent his steps to regions previously unvisited by Europeans-to the mountain range of the Ansayrii, inhabited by wild tribes, where hitherto it had been considered unsafe to venture. Among these lawless races Mr. Walpole fearlessly dwelt and obtained over them a most remarkable ascendancy, details of which we find abundantly in these volumes. Of the Ansayrii Mr. Walpole tells us

"The Ansayrii are a race so little known, that any information with regard to them will not fail to be interesting to the reader.

The

"They are a fine, large race, with more bone and muscle than is generally found among Orientals; browner than the Osmanlee, but lighter, fairer than the Arab; brown hair is not by any means uncommon. women, when young, are handsome, often fair with light hair and jetblack eyes; or the rarer beauty of fair eyes and coal-black hair or eyebrows; but exposure to the sun, and the labours they perform, soon wear them out. The traveller will see these poor people staggering along under a load of wood a horse would hardly carry, and the child being suckled until two or even four years of age, naturally tends to weaken the mother, who has thus, perhaps on very insufficient diet, to support three from her breast.

"In dress the Ansayrii are Turks. According to the expression of the country they dress thus, as they regard white as their sacred colour, and deem it essential to be clothed in it. White turban, or cloth wrapped voluminously round the tarboosh that all wear; a white cotton shirt, with the long pendant sleeves; a belt of a species of red and black worsted girth stuff; a cloak or Homs jacket over all; and perhaps small, short, loose, cotton trousers under the shirt; over, being considered improper: the front of the shirt is unbuttoned, as to close it would be considered an act of disobedience to the Creator, who must at all times be allowed to look, unimpeded by shirt or anything, into our hearts.

"In marriage, a certain price is agreed on. One portion goes to the father, another to supply dress and things necessary for the maiden. This will vary much, according to the wealth of the bridegroom and the