farther end. Near them are two infcriptions in writing unknown, which I copied, in order to communicate them to Ab. Barthelemy.

From Kermounshah till we arrived within three days journey of Ipahan, our road lay through fine vallies abounding with excellent pafturage; but they afforded little variety, and I found none of thofe picturefque views fo common in France. A fingle rivulet fcarce perceptible watered the plain; arid mountains and the fummits of rocks projecting like the fcolloped border of a garment, terminated the view; but not a fingle tree was to be seen. Such is Perfia in general. The relations of ancient travellers are much exaggerated; and even Chardin was a little prejudiced in favour of the beauty of Perfia, and of its climate. The queftion, however, may be decided in few words, which no modern traveller will conteft: a country deftitute of wood and water cannot be beautiful. At a place called Sannah, two days journey from Kermounfhah, I met with fome trouble. Chriftians paffing this place pay a tax: this is a trifle, indeed, when Perfia is under the dominion of a proper fovereign; but when I was there, every lord of a village being mafter, the tax was arbitrary. From the Khan of this village I experienced great moleftation: he made me open my trunks by force, took the box which held my papers and money, and would have broken it open had I not been protected by a Turk of Bagdad, who knew me, and, coming to my affiftance, took it from him, loading him with all the abuse a funni or orthodox Muffelman could bestow on a chia or proteftant one. I must obferve on this occafion, that chriftians receive much more moleftation when travelling in Perfia than in Turkey. Every change of province expofes them to troubles from the arbitrary

tax impofed on them by the commiffaries of the governors. In the Grand Seignior's dominions, on the contrary, they travel without hindrance. When they have paid the annual tribute, for which they have a receipt, they may go where they pleafe, on producing that paffport. Europeans, in right of treaties with the Porte, pay nothing. It is fufficient for thein to fhow themselves to be fo.

The towns we paffed from Kermounfhah till we arrived at Hamadan were in ruins. The laft mentioned city is at the foot of a chain of mountains called Alouend, which Chardin fays is a branch of Mount Caucafus. I was aftonifhed to fee thefe mountains, in the latitude of 34°, covered with fnow towards the end of May; particularly as they appeared to me far lefs lofty than the golden mountains of Auvergne. On mountains ftill lefs high, towards lat. 36°, I faw fnow in the month of July. Hence I conclude, that Pelia is an elevated country. Ispahan, though fituated in a valley, retains for three months the fnow, which falls there in great abundance.

From Hamadan to Ifpahan we paffed fome good land, but none of it is cultivated, except in the neighbourhood of the villages, which are very few in number. Chardin fays (vol. iv. p. 9.), that not a twelfth part of Perfia is inhabited; at prefent it is much worse, for I can affirm that one thirtieth is not inhabited in the northern parts which I traverfed. The province of Hamadan, which is in Irak-Agemi, appeared to me better cultivated than the reft.

As we were paffing the defiles of the mountains, we were a little alarmed by the appearance of fome horfemen: we had perceived them in the evening. The chief of the caravan was for fetting off inftantly; but they who had moft at ftake refused, faying,

that it was too dangerous to pass the

mountains

mountains by night.' In doubtful cafes the Perfians have recourfe to divination, which is done in various ways. Commonly they apply to fome Mollah, who opens the Koran at a venture, and reads the first verfe, which he adapts to the circumflance. The mountains which we paffed are, as it were, the roots of Mount Alouend. The ftone is blackish, and feparates into thin leaves like flate. We found on them a kind of thistle, the ftalk of which is two feet high; it has a flavour fomewhat like that of celery, with a flight acidity, and is eaten by the natives.

The 27th of May we encamped in a charming valley, furrounded with mountains fo little elevated, that it required but a quarter of an hour to gain the fummit. The cold was fo Tharp at funrife, that the children of our caravan cried with it, and the water in our drinking veffels, which were of leather, was frozen; whilft at Bagdad the heat was to great, that the inhabitants had for fome time slept on their terraces. I was still more furprifed at Cafbin, to fee fnow there the 8th of July.

Chardin fays (vol. iv. p. 10.), that the highest mountains in the univerfe are in Perfia. Mount Taurus, adds he, which traveries the whole kingdom, has points of which the fummits are not feen on account of their immenfe height. This affertion of Chardin appears to me fomewhat bold. I could not cafily believe that there exifted mountains as high as thofe of Chimberaco in Peru. I know there are very lofty ones in Armenia, to the fouth and weft of the Cafpian Sea, in the country of the Agouans; but I am furprised to hear Chardin fay, that the highest places in thefe mountains are Mount Ararat in Upper Armenia, the chain of mountains which feparates Media from Hyrcania, that which is between Hyrcania and the country of the Parthians, and

particularly Mount Amavend, (I lup pofe he means Alouend), the mountains which feparate Chaldea from Arabia, and those which are between Perfia and Caramania.' I have croífed part of these mountains, which I did not find exceffively high, though covered with fnow. From this I inferred only, that the country of Perfia was elevated. Chardin has obferved, that there is neither river nor brook, properly fpeaking, to water it: and he fays true. This alfo tends to confirm my opinion. It receives no river, on account of its elevated fituation; and its naked barren mountains, which are merely rock, are not of a nature to afford any.

A

The famous city of Ifpahan is fe parated from the agreeable and folitary vallies we had passed, by a defert of three days journey. In it I met with a fhrub which might be called the prickly dwarf almond its leaves are fmall and pointed, its branches are thorny, and its fruit has exactly the fhape and flavour of our almonds, but is fmaller. I am told it is common in Perfia. In thefe mountains are many curious plants. mongft thofe which particularly excited my notice, was one that may be filed the Vegetable Hedgehog: this plant forms a heap nearly a foot and half in diameter, a little convex, of a beautiful green colour, and armed with hard fharp points, which render it impenetrable. To water our horfes we found only a few ftreamlets. The foil is ftony, and produces only a few fcattered thorns. In this fad and favage place I heard not the fong of a fingle bird. It was the majestic filence of nature, which had fo often ftruck me in the Defert. I had lain myself down, when I heard a loud humming, refembling the found of a fpinning-wheel. I arofe, and approached a thorn from which it seemed to proceed. On it I found an infect of the class Aptera,

black.

black on the back, yellow under the belly, and about the length and thicknefs of a man's thumb. I have fince feen fome with two yellow bands, a little spotted on the back. Its body is compofed of feven or eight circuJar bands, folding over each other, and forming its armour. Its head is of a pale yellow, large, and nearly fquare. It has two bright round eyes, half a line in diameter. The face below the eyes is fpotted with fmall black dots. It has two antennæ an inch long, and four finall trunks. It has fix feet, of a yellowifh gray, fpotted with black. On the back, and joined to the head, is a kind of hood, eight lines long, fomewhat refembling a man's neck-kerchief; „it is of one piece, and covers a part of the back and the fides. When it makes a noife it raifes this hood, and difplays underneath two little round bodies, like cymbals, one of which covers part of the other. Thefe two bodies are raised and moved with great velocity. It cannot easily run away, and never leaps.

In this folitary place I could not avoid making reflections. Thefe, faid I to myfelf, are the environs of that famous city, the name of which is celebrated throughout the univerfe. Its Defert confines, contralled with its delightful gardens, render the approach to it more furprifing. No great road, no avenues, no river leads to it (for I reckon not the Zenderond,, its courfe is fo fhort); and had I not known that Ifpahan was within a day's journey of me, I could not have fufpected that I was near a city which only in the last century was immenfe. Ifpahan refembles the Elyfian Fields, the entrance to which, with the black waters of the Styx, had fomething, terrible. This reflection led me to another, which I had long ago made: How is it that the molt famous cities of the Eaft were built in deferts? Not to mention Ifpahan, which is VOL. III. No. 6,

but of modern date, and owed its greatnels perhaps to the river Zenderond; as it is natural to fuppofe that this place was preferred on account of the great fcarcity of rivers in Perfia; the famous Babylon, though fituated on a celebrated river, was built in a defert; unless, indeed, we fuppofe that the beds of the Tigris and Euphrates were much lefs deep than at prefent, and communicated by various canals, fo that the lands were much more cafily cultivated; which I am inclined to believe. Hella, on the Euphrates, fupplies, it is true, a great part of the provisions of Bagdad; but what is modern Bagdad compared with ancient Babylon? If too we reflect on the grandeur and magnificence of Bagdad during the time of the Caliphs, how incredible muft it seem, that thefe Sovereign Pontiffs did not chufe Tekrit or Samaria in Mefopotamia, under a climate rendered temperate by mountains, but came to found this city, in their time celebrated, and transferred the feat of their vaft and powerful empire to a burning defert, parched up by the heat of the fun! The fituation of Palmyra is ftill more furprifing: three days journey from Damafcus, deftitute of water, except what is brought to it by aqueducts, we are altonifhed to fee it refplendent with granite and marble.

The city of Ifpahan cannot be feen at a distance, being concealed by the trees of the numerous gardens with which it is furrounded. I had not time to examine it on my firft vifit, being eager to gain the borders of ' the Cafpian Sea. I accompanied, therefore, the first caravan for Cafbin. In the courfe of my travels I remarked, that Perfia is now very different from what it was a century ago. Chardin, in his third volume, befides the pompous defcriptions he has given of Cafbin, Koum, and Cachan, relates his having croffed fertile and charme

E

ing

ing plains, covered with villages, precifely in the very track which I held, and in which I faw only deferted towns, folitary villages, and lands for the most part uncultivated. It is easy, however, to perceive in the courfe of Chardin's works, that tho' he relates fimply what he faw, and there is an air of truth in all he fays, he is a little too partial to Perfia. Sometimes he even exaggerates the goodnefs and ferenity of the air in Perfia, to which he attributes wonderful effects; as the great light produced by the ftars, the brightnefs of colours and dyes, the whitenefs of linen, and a thousand other things. To have done with this fubject, I fhall firft fay, that it was from want of obfervation Chardin fuppofes the ftars did not twinkle in Perfia. The air of Chaldea is not lefs pure; yet the custom of fleeping on terraces has made me remark, that there the ftars twinkle to about 45° of altitude, from which point to the Zenith their twinkling is not perceptible. In winter and spring it is greater than in fummer. I do not think the air of Chaldea is much more ferene than that of France. Since my return to Paris I have obferved the ftars; and at the Obfervatory of the Military School, I remarked to Mr.de la Lande, that the Lyre and the Eagle, which were in the meridian, did not twinkle at all, and that the twinkling of the other ftars fcarcely went beyond 40° or 45°. I might, I believe, have spoken fecurely of the climate of Perfia, before I had vifited it; judging, that it could not be drier than that which I inhabited; but it

was proper to be circumspect in contradicting a man who had long refided there, and whofe defcription deferved confidence. Chardin feems to exaggerate a little too, when he fays, that the ftars give light enough to walk about and to know people' (vol. iv. p. 21.) This I did not perceive when I travelled by night. We may know people very near, it is true, but more by their gait, dress, &c. than by their features: and the fame may be done in Europe. Neither, as to the exceffive beauty of the fky in Perfia, can I agree with Chardin, when he fays, the air of Perfia has a beauty which I cannot forget, or pafs over in filence: you would fay, the fky is more lofty, and of a different colour from what it is in our thick European atmosphere." Thefe expreffions are fomewhat too general. If he speaks of the Northern part of Europe he is right; but with that he might have compared the ferenity of the air in Spain and Italy: nor is a fine night at Paris lefs beautiful than at Ifpahan or Bagdad. The advantages which those climates have indifputably over ours of Europe are, that fucceffion of fine days, that pure air which their inhabitants breathe in an evening on their terraces, and that sweet spectacle of the Heavens, which in Europe is known only to philofophers and aftronomers. In the Eaft all the world enjoys it, and travellers, who admire it, ought to have paid a little attention to thofe adventitious circumftances which mix with most of our fenfations without our being aware of it. (To be continued.)

Grotius

Grotius wrote, in his confinement, his Commentary on Saint Matthew. Buchanan, in the dungeon of a monaftery in Portugal, compofed his excellent Paraphrafes on the Pfalms of David.

Peliffon, during five years confinement for fome ftate affairs, purfued with ardour his ftudies in the

Greek Language, in Philofophy, and particularly in Theology, and produced feveral good compofitions.

Michael Cervantes compofed the best and most agreeable book in the Spanish Language during his captivity in Barbary.

Fleta, a well known and very excellent little law production, was written by a perfon confined in the Fleet prifon for debt, but whofe name has not been preserved.

Louis the Twelfth, when he was Duke of Orleans, being taken prifoner at the battle of St. Aubin, was long confined in the Tower of Bourges; and, applying himself to his ftudies, which he had hitherto neglected, he became in confequence an able and enlightened monarch.

Margaret, Queen of Henry the Fourth, King of France, confined in the Louvre, purfued very warmly the ftudies of elegant literature; and compofed a very fkilful Apology for the irregularities of her conduct.

Charles the First, during his cruel confinement at Holmfby, wrote that

F

excellent book entitled The Portrait of a King; which he addreffed to his fon, and where the political reflections will be found not unworthy of Tacitus. This work has, however, been attributed, by his enemies, to a Dr. Gawden, who was incapable of writing a fingle paragraph of it.

Queen Elizabeth, while confined by her fifter Mary, wrote fome very charming poems, which we do not find the ever could equal after her enlargement; and Mary Queen of Scots, during her long imprifonment by Elizabeth, produced many pleafing poetic compofitions.

Sir Walter Raleigh-according to his own orthography-produced, in his confinement, his Hiftory of the World; of whom it is obferved, to employ the language of Hume, they had leifure to reflect on the hardship, not to fay the injuftice, of his fentence. They pitied his active and enterprifing (pirit, which languished in the rigours of confinement. They were ftruck with the extenfive genius of the man who, being educated amidst naval and military enterprises, had furpaffed in the purfuits of literature even thofe of the most reclufe and fedentary lives; and they admired. his unbroken magnanimity, which, at his age, and under his circumftances, could engage him to undertake and execute fo great a work as his Hiftory of the world.'

ORTUNE has rarely condefcended to be the companion of Merit. Even in thefe enlightened times, men of letters have lived in obfcurity, while their reputation was widely fpread; and have perished in poverty, while their works were enriching the bookfellers.

Homer, poor and blind, reforted to the public places to recite his verfes for a morfel of bread.

The facetious poet Plautos gained a livelihood by affifting a miller. Xylander fold his Notes on Dion Caffius for a dinner.

Alde Manutius was fo wretchedly poor, that the expence of removing his library from Venice to Rome made him infolvent.

To mention thofe who left nothing behind them to fatisfy the undertaker, were an endless task.

Agrippa