ed. The very reading of them is an unhappiness, but a second perusal, guilt, and approbation. The heretic misunderstands religion, but the profane one scorns it. Such, the very heathen admitted not to sacrifice. The profane is he, qui nihil habet sacri; qui sacru negligit, violat, conculcat; who has nothing of religion in him, but neglects, destroys, and spurns all that is sacred. fle is indeed the practical atheist, who contemning heaven, hath, more than the mere pagan, forgot himself to be man. If man, made up of infirmities, be so jealous of his honour, - that is traduced. It is unworthy to traduce the absent, even though provoked by passion; but to display a man's malice in writing, is deliberate wickedness; to which(with his own disgrace) he sets his hand and seal, and does an injury for which he cannot make amends suflicient; for admit he does retract in public, he is not sure that all who saw his first book, shall come to read his last. A spiteful pen picks out only the vices and corruptions of men, and leaves their virtues buried and untouched, which, if justly attended to, might be found to balance all their failings. But above all, to abuse the dead is most dead-that, with the hazard of his life, he dares ly. The dead is as the fatherless and widow, whose cause, because they want defenders, God himself will vindicate. How much below the gallantry of man is it, to tyrannize over the defenceless! The brave soul scorns advantages. Is it reasonable in arins to fight against the naked? To meet my enemy without a weapon, is his protection, if I be provided. The dead are tamely passive; and should the dishonour of them be tolerated, what fame could rest unblasted in the grave? When Agesilaus was presented with Lysander's treasonable letters, and was about to read them at the head of his army, he was told Lysander was dead; and this made him abaudon his purpose. Next to scandalous books, are heretical: these fill the world with tares, which like ill plants in a good ground, if they be let grow to seed, they sow themselves, and perpetuate their corruptions to future generations. The heretic must needs be obstinate and arrogant; for by presuming on his own sense, he grows incorrigible. He is the highest papal man in the world; for he sets himself up above the church and all her doctors. While he cries duel him that stains it; how will God, who made man with this jealousy, be zealous of his own honour, by punishing such as wildly despise it? Shall the clay grow insolent against the potter, or the worm affect to hold up its head at the face of man? Beware of the profane and scorner. He who neglects God, will make no scruple of betraying man. If he sits loose to heaven, he will never hold firm to earth; but for himself, will forsake his friends, having done so already as to God, to whom he is indebted for all he has. The vicious author cannot offend alone. A corrupt book is an amphisbæna a serpent headed at both ends; one of which bites him that reads, the other stings him that writes: for if I be corrupted by his pen, the guilt grows his, as well as mine. I will not write so as to hurt myself and posterity. I will not read so as to hurt myself and predecessors. A foolish sentence dropt upon paper sets folly on a hill, and is a monument to make infamy eternal. From Owen Felltham's Resolves. Donation of a Lord Mayor of London, in the fourteenth Century. Reygute, Jan. 1809. Sir,-In looking into Fabyan's "Chronicle," a very scarce book, of which I possess a nutilated copy, "printed at London by William Rastell, 1533," I met with the following account of a donation to the city of London; made by the mayor, in the year 1370, and marked it as deserving of particular attention. I do not know whether the fact is elsewhere, or otherwise, recorded; but thinking it right that "good and merytoryous dedes should be holden in memory," I send it you, for the information of those whom it may concern, by means of your widely circulating iniscellany.-It occurs in the seventh parte, page cxii down others for infallible, he acts as if he And to the ende that good and meryto ryous dedes should be holden in memorye, "here is to be noted that the mayre for thys "yere beyng John Bernys mercer, gave mito "the comynaltve of the cytye of London a "chest wyth lue lockes and keyes, and "therein a thousande marke of redy money, wyllyng the keyes therof to be yerely in the "kepynge of thre sundry persons, that is to mene the mayster of the felysshyp of the "mercery to have one, the mayster of the "felysshyp of drapars the second, and thyrde to be in the kepynge of the chamberlayne "of that cytye. And so therin the sayde "thousande marke to be kept, to the entent "that at all tymes when any cytesyne wolde borrowe any money, that he shulde have "it there for the space of a yere, to laye for "suche a summe as he wold have plate or "other jewellys to a suffycyente gayge, so "that he excedyd not the summe of an hun"dreth marke. And for the occupyenge therof yf he were lerned, to saye at hys "pleasure De Profundis for the soule of John Bernys and all christen soules, as often "tymes as in hys summe were comprysed x "markes. As he that borowed but x marke, shulde saye but over that prayer. "And yf he had xx marke, then to save it twyes, and so after the rate. And yf he were not lerned, then to saye so often hys "Paternoster. But how so thys money was "lent or gyded, at thys daye the cheste re"mayneth in the chamber of London, wythout money or pledges for the same." This donation amounted to a very considerable sum. A mark of thirteen shillings and four pence, of 1370, was equal in weight of silver to thirty-three shillings and 3 farthings of our present money, as it appears from Fleetwood's Chronicon Pretiosum that a -pound weight of silver now coined into sixtytwo shillings was coined only into twentyfive shillings, from 1353 to 1421. 1000 marks consequently amounted in effective money of 1809 to £1,658. 6s. 8d. and taking into consideration the different prices of provisions and of the necessaries of life, according to Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn's table, commencing in 1050, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1798, by which the average price of the various necessaries of -life in 1350 compared with the estimated average price in 1800, is in the proportion of 77 to 562, John Bernys' liberal accommodation to the needy of his fellow-citizens was equal to £12,067 5s. of the present currency. 1 beg leave to observe that this calculation is made from the data afforded in Godwin's | life of Chaucer, Vol. II. pp. 61 and 62, not having access to the original authorities. I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant, was delyuered to Hewe Ffyssher and Thos. Becke, by Hewe Seymper and Will. Leng. don, xli torches, xli towres, xli white bendes and blake bende, a skochon of rede silke, and xi pensels*. About 7th Edw. IV. Item. Thomas Sharman delyured to Daivd Jenkyn and John Langford, wardens, a bage wyth dedes be longynge to oure servyce in Seynte Julian's, 11 sylver spones, and a maser gilt. Memorand. of costez and expences don by the stywards agayns Corpus Xti feest, anno. &c. viii. Fyrst for cakes, xxiid. It'. for safron, vid. It'. for love brede to the childern, viîid. Thes ben the costes don by the sd. stywards agayns Sonday aft. Corp. Xt. day (after entries for cakes, safron, and ale). It'. for rysshes, 1d. It'. paid to the waites of the towne, iiid. 8 Ed. 4. A dede & indenture perteynyng to oure Ladyes servyce. 9 Ed. 4. Memd. yt Thomas Seymour hathe reservyd owt of the box to wage men to the Kyng on Seynt Mary Mawdlen ys daye. 9 Ed. 4. Thomas Sharmah hathe delyvered all the jewels and ornaments longyng to our Ladye servyce to Thomas Relf and Thomas Byche by fore the craft. No date, but about Henry VII. These be the costes don upon the daye of our eleccon by the offyceres afore rehearsyd (i. e. by the wardens, stewards, and foure men) in bred & past & baking, iis. & vd. Item, in ale iis. & id. Item, in the Kychyn, iiiis. & vd. ob. Item, in fagotts and spyche, xvid. Item, spent on the "balys yn the cextre, viiid. It'. payd yn the cextre on Corpus Crysti day, iis. iid. I These byn the parcels the whych ben payed by John Smethe and Hewe Seympeer for ye repareen of the hawle. Imprimis, for lede for castyng, vis, xid. It'. pd. for a gat' and iii. pese tymber, viid. It'. pd. spynd upon the balys in the taverne, iid. It'. pd. for hynges and lokys to Tho. Fernzer, xxiid. It'. pd. for naylys, viis. iiid. It'. pd. for watur and heryng of ramel, xid. It'. pd. for lyme, sond clamstafs and cley, vs. viiid. It'. pd. to the tyler, xxvs viiid. It. pd. to Williame Tyler for, M stonys, xiiis. vid. It'. pd. for clausyng the tourete and the seler, iiid. It'. pd. for a hundurt lattys, iiid. It'. pd. for a slate, iid. It'. pd. for lyme, viid. It'. pd. for 2 walle plats, xiid. TURKS AND PERSIANS. Comparison of the Characters of the Turks and Persians. From Olivier's Voyage dans la Perse. A traveller who passes the Ottoman empire into Persia, perceives, at the first step, the great difference between these two people. In Turkey every thing bears the stamp of cruelty and barbarisni in Persia every thing announces a mild and civilized nation. The Turks are vain, contemptuous, inhospitable; the Persians are polite, complimentary, affectionate. The former, after transporting themselves from the banks of the Jaxartes, and the Oxus, into the delicious provinces of Asia Minor, after establishing themselves in polished Greece, have retained all the rude ness of a warlike and pastoral nation; the latter, aunid the Arabs, the Usbecks, the Turcomans, the Curds, the Afghans, who have successively subdued and oppressed them, have not lost their taste for the arts, their love of literature or the inclination which a they have always had for traffic and com merce, While both are governed by the laws of the Koran; both subjected to a despot, to whose will every thing must bend; both placed under the same sky, in the same climate; the one is ferocious, slothful, and ignorant the other is humane, active, and industrious. Doubtless the Persians have not reached that degreee of information, that delicacy of taste, that quickness of penetration, at which Europeans have arrived; because the insulated condition in which their religion, has kept them, and the restraints to which their form of government subjects them, have constantly opposed improvements of that nature: but if they had, like the Turks, been within reach of the Europeans; if the harbours, the capital, the great cities of Persia, could have carried on a free trade with Europe; if their people could have come to visit us as easily as the Turkish people could, Persia would long ago have resembled Europe. The Turks despise other people, and repel, with obstinacy, all those who come from them, and who do not profess, the religion of Mahomet the Persians, on the contrary, estimate them at their real value, and from whatever quarter instruction comes, they receive it with pleasure. Although the latter addict themselves now more particularly to the study of the sacred books, to poetry and to astrology, yet they do not on that account neglect other sciences; they cordially receive strangers who appear to them to possess merit and knowledge. In particular, they set great value on Europeans, they court their friendship, they treat them with politeness, and they are not backward in putting an infinite number of questions to them, respecting the manners and customs of their country, the arts which are practised, the sciences which are cultivated, and the religion which is professed in it. Equally superstitious as the Turks, they are not so fanatical; they carry their scrupulosity, in some respects, farther; they seldom eat with a person of another religion; they will not drink in a cup or a glass which has been used by a Christian, a Jew, or an Indian; yet they allow them to enter their mosques, they hear with patience all the objections which are made to then on the subject of their religion; they listen without anger to all that can be said against the prophet, and their imans. The Turk would assassinate you, were you to speak to him with irreverence of Mahomet and his laws; the Persian regards you with pity, he prays to Heaven that truth may shew itself to you in all its lustre; he refrains from speaking to you of his religion, but he continues to treat you with kindness and friendship. Equally brave as the Turk, but more ac tive, more patient, the Persian is like him, cruel in baile, implacable against an armed enemy, but' milder, after battle and more sociable in peace. Whether he has to deal with Georgians and Russians, who profess the Catholic religion; or with Turks, Arabs, and Afghans who are Mahometans like himself, but of a different sect; he is equally disposed to do them a service after war, if he finds an opportunity, while the Turk never forgets that you have been his enemy. ' On the whole, the Persians appear to us to be a degenerated people, whose vices have increased during the troubles of their country, whose virtues perhaps are only the semblance of what they really were, white their Jaws were vigourously enforced, while probity was honoured, while merit was rewarded ; while every one, secured in his property, could encrease it by honourable labour. restore their commerce, would resume their industry, would repair the losses which their agriculture has sustained. With a vigorous, active, and intelligent government," the Tarks would again perhaps make Europe tremble. We less frequently see in Persia than in The Torks, on the contrary, are a new Turkey revolts, rebellions, seditious commo-people, who have all the grossness, all the tions, great collections of men to overthrow rudeness, all the ignorance, of a nation the head of the state, or his ministers, to stop which civilization has not polished. With the caravans, and to lay a city or province an able and beneficent government, the under contribution. Neither are assassinati-Persians would rebuild their cities, would ons and rapes so frequent. Yet the moral principle and perhaps even the character, of the Persian is less estimable. He possesses indeed more information, more politeness, more mildness; he does not so often distarb the tranquillity of the state, nor openly threaten the forune and life of other citizens; he respects more the weakness of the sex. But he has not that dignity, that inagnanimity, that self-esteem, nor that confidence in friendship, that devotion to his benefactor, which sometimes prompt the Turk to a great action. The Persian is more addicted to cheating : and dissimulation, more artful, more crafty more insinuating, more practiced in lying and perjury, than the Turk. Habitually a flatterer, he is mean and cringing to his equals as well as to his superiors, whether he solicit a favour, or merely discuss an interesting subject. Whatever engagements he may have entered into, verbal or written, he breaks them sas often as he can with impunity. He robs without a scruple, if he thinks he can do it undiscovered; he even robs openly and impudently, if he hopes to escape legal convic tion. Presents are still more common in Persia than in Turkey. A Persian never presents himself before the king; never solicits a favour from a great man; never even' facet with his equal or any furiportant affair, "without being preceded or accompanied by a present proportioned to his own rank, or to the importance of the favour which he solicits. It is true, that custom obliges him who receives a present, to give another in retura: but, in this exchange, the most powerfat is likely to gain ten fold, unless, from pride or ostentation, he wishes to surpass the other in generosity; which happens very rarely, unless in the case of strangers and ambassadors. Judges act differently, they receive presents from both parties, without giving any in if they return; they think they do enough, make the oue gain his law suit, and do not condemn the other with too much rigour. dress and ornament, in the number of their women slaves, and in their equipage. it There is much more luxury in Persia than False witnesses are still more common and in Turkey, because civilization is farther admore shameless in Persia than in Turkey: vanced. This luxury, in both states, conjudges are still more corruptible: men insists less in furniture and the table, than in power are equally prevaricating. Ministers are perhaps more attentive to the duties of their office, because they are commonly richer, better informed, and more firmly es tablished; for it does not so often happen in Persia as in Turkey, that men rise rapidly from the lowest ranks in society to the highast offices of the state. Nevertheless, intrigues, cabals, accusations, secret conspiracies, are carried on with an activity, an ar dour, a perseverance, of which the Turks are/not capable. The royal harem is the center of these intrigues, and the eunuchs are the most active agents, as well as the most interested. The women here, as in Turkey, act a distinguished part in all important affairs, although they figure in them only by the aid of their husbands or of their eunuchs The houses of the Persians are in general larger than those of the Turks they are divided with more taste, in a more elegant and commodious manner. They have many If the situation does not admit of a garden, houses of a simple and regular architecture. there is at least a court where some trees are planted. The rich have almost always foun tains, or jets d'eau, in their saloons, for the purpose of coolness. 13 43 The furniture is very simple; it consists of a double carpet or covering over the floor of all the rooms which they inhabit, and in a soph of moderate elevation placed all round. In the evening, mattresses of linen, orcation not very thick, are placed upon the carpet or sopha, upon which they sleep. among the slaves some are destined for service; these are the elder and least handsome; all the others aspire to the honour of being admitted to the bed of the master, and of becoming mothers, in order that they themselves may have slaves to serve them, and may be in some measure assimila ted to the wives. The expence which then takes place in the haram is excessive. If the master is generous or weak, his wives set no bounds to their wishes. The richest habits, the most pre Their dress is less ample, less complicated than that of the Turks. A remark that we have been led to make by the different dresses which we have been obliged to wear in the course of our travels, is, that clothing has a great influence on our physical and .moral powers. It is, perhaps to his habit being more simple, more free, less bulky, and less weighty than that of the Turk, that the Persian is indebted for all his advantages over him; for that greater ease of manner, greater rapidity of movement, greater livelicious and most costly jewels, the most exquiness of wit and readiness of judgment, which strike a stranger the first step he takes into Persia. The Turkish habit gradually condemns man to inaction by rendering the motion of the body too painful to him; the Persian habit, on the contrary, still more than ours, allows him to act according to the conceptions of his mind, or the instinctive feelings of self-preservation. We ourselves have experienced this; wrapt up in the Turkish dress, we could with difficulty determine to make use of our arms and legs; already we were become, like them, slothful and indolent. In general the Turks do not allow themselves to wear ornaments of gold; precious stones are seldom seen upon their dress. The Persians, on the contrary, are covered with them; they have a great number of rings on their fingers; they have a chain of gold or silver round the neck, which hangs upon the breast, and is hid under the habit; to this chain are attached rings, caskets, a purse, a watch, and divers other trinkets. The bonnet is sometimes also adorned with jewels; they are seen upon the breast and round the girdle. The king and some grandees wear, above the waist, bracelets of precious stones. It is true, that the most devout among the men, only set their finest stones, their most precious diamonds, in silver, because the law of Mahomet prohibits gold; but these diamonds thus mounted are not less precious nor less costly.. Women have still more trinkets, jewels, and precious ornaments, than the men; their whole body is in a manner covered with them; they place upon the head, and round the neck, aigrettes, bandeaus, necklaces made of the most beautiful stones, or of the largest and finest pearls. Their girdles are enriched with diamonds and rubies; their fingers are loaded with rings they have bracelets on their arms and feet, and sometimes pieces of gold on all the borders of their habits. The expence into which a Persian, still more than a Turk, allows himself to be drawn, for his haram, is seldom proportioned to his fortune. Whether he has a single wife, or several wives, the number of slaves is always very great. It is well known, that VOL. V. [Lit. Pan. March 1809.] site and rare perfumes, the most delicate and highly dressed dishes, must be supplied to them in an abundance, a profusion, of which, in Europe, there is no example. A woman, in the east, seems always a stranger to the family of her husband and master, to live only for herself, and to think only of her individual happiness, she seeks to indemnify herself by the beanty, the rarity, the value of all that she can procure, for the restraint to which law and custom have condemned her: occupied only in securing the favour of the man to whom she belongs, in obtaining a preference over her rivals, or exciting the envy of the women who visit her, she passes part of the day in the bath and at her toilet, and the other in displaying all her fiches, before friends who come to see her, and before singing and dancing girls, whom she is in the custom of sending for to amuse her ennui. Luxury in horses and their trappings is carried sull farther in Persia than in Turkey. A great man never goes out to hunt, to walk, or to pay a visit, without having some servants on foot, and some domestics on horseback, each leading one or two horses splendidly harnessed. Even a private man, when riding, must needs be accompanied by one or two domestics as well mounted as himself. They lavish in their trappings gold, silver, embroidery, fine pearls, precious stones. The bridle and the straps which fix the saddle, are covered with chains of gold. The ornamental covering, which descends to the ground, is entirely composed of gold embroidery, and is frequently enriched with pearls and jewels. The Persians have a great veneration for the beard; they wear it generally not so long as the Turks, but none of them now want it. A young man does not, as in Turkey, wait till he is married, or arrived at public employments, before he lets it grow. There is certainly no country in the world, where so much attention is paid to the beard, as in Persia: on getting up in the morning, on lying down in the evening, after meals,' and often during the day, the Persian careful, ly washes his beard, dries it with a towel, combs it for a long time, carefully adjusts, l'and strokes it often with his hand, to keep i 2 S |