other Amirs crowding round the visiter, and seizing his hand, nearly tore him from his saddle, with rude but hearty inquiries for his health; after the usual circuitous method of Sindian salutation, following it up with an express message of inquiry and solicitation, from their highnesses, individually.

"This preliminary ceremony being completed (and it occupied some considerable time, for a single interchange of salutations is not speedily completed in Sinde, and on this occasion there were half a dozen to receive and answer), the escort was formed to return, and the visiter placed in the middle, his steed being nearly borne down by the press around him, and woe betide him if he were not mounted on a quiet beast, for kicks would then shower round his legs thick as hail; no remonstrance or request to be allowed a little more room,' 'to take care of his horse,' &c., were for a moment heeded, but would only have induced additional persecution in the shape of additional pressure, and more inquiries after health and comfort! thus jostling, shouting, and hallooing, the fort and narrow entrances to the drawbridge was gained, when the escort was again swelled by additional followers. The senior Amír demanded the first interview, and opposite his divan or hall of audience the visiter was stopped; fifty obsequious retainers held the stirrup and assisted to alight, whilst as many Bismillahs' were breathed out on the foot touching the ground; here it was necessary to pause for a moment, to arrange the order of entrance to the royal presence. A certain number of men of rank being at the door, one took hold of the stranger's hand, who, divesting his feet of shoes or boots, (the feet cannot be covered beyond the threshold of any dwelling in the East,) was ushered into a large square room, wholly bare of furniture, except a large charpai or ottoman covered with rich velvet or brocade cushions, Persian carpets being spread around it; on the former reclined the Amír in full dress or otherwise, as the case might be, whilst the whole room was crowded with chiefs, ministers, servants, and armed retainers of every degree; those of higher rank being nearest the Amírs, and enjoying the exclusive privilege of occupying the carpet.

6

"On the entrance of the guest all rose, and the usual form of inquiry and solicitation, coupled with an embrace, being interchanged with the Amír, was repeated by all in his vicinity; and as their highnesses, and the Belooches generally are very corpulent, the hugging was not always of the most pleasant kind! Conversation then commenced, the guest being accommodated with a chair as a post of honour. The studied attention to the slightest word or gesture of the Amir was, on these occasions, strikingly evinced by his rude followers: if a fold of his garment were displaced, a dozen hands adjusted it; if in want of a word to render the conversation glib, it was abundantly supplied; every movement was accompanied by a 'Bismillah,' and every eye directed to the chief, whose slightest gesture was instantly obeyed; and although the Amir might be in undress himself, no one of those about him was in other than in the full costume of their country.

"On state occasions or visits of ceremony, the sword, shield, and full panoply was adopted by the Amírs, and the British authorities

always observed the same etiquette. The murder of Bijar Khan before described was made a pretext for requiring the gentlemen who formed the first mission to the Talpúr chiefs to appear in durbar unarmed, a request which of course could not be complied, with. Politeness peculiar to the East was carried in the Sinde durbars to a ridiculous extent during any pause in the conversation: the chief invariably supplied the hiatus by an inquiry after the health of his guest, putting his hands together and ejaculating' Khoosh!" and if the stranger's eye wandering over the assembled retainers caught that of any of the men of rank, he felt himself bound to perform the same ceremony immediately: these constant questions on the same topic became at last almost ridiculous, but were made with so much of at least apparent sincerity of manner, that they became pleasing. However important the subject first discussed with an Amír, though generally the topics were commonplace, it ordinarily terminated in the all-engrossing subject of sport, and the latest and next intended visit to the Shikargah; the greatest proof of the high estimation in which a guest was held being an invitation to partake in this royal pastime. The Amír himself gave the signal for breaking up the conference, as is usual in the East for a superior; and honour was shown to the visiter by his highness accompanying him to the border of the carpet, when the Khuda hafiz,' or God protect you,' was interchanged. Each Amír had his own divan and establishment, and observing only the strictest etiquette of visiting each according to seniority, (for any departure from this would have been deemed a slight,) the same ceremony obtained with each. On occasions only of discussing matters of state importance affecting the national weal, did the Amírs meet together in durbar, and they then collectively represented the country over which they ruled. On quitting the fort, the same escort as formerly was provided, and a portion even accompanied the visiter to his own home, the rest only returning when expressly directed to do so. On visits of ceremony, presents were always interchanged, but on ordinary occasions the guest was supplied with edibles, generally in the shape of large trays of sweetmeats for himself and his attendants. Envoys to the court were fed, with all their retainers, for the whole time of their sojourn. "The rude hospitality and kind welcome shown on these occasions of an ordinary visit, seem very characteristic of Sindian manners. The court showed nothing of the refinement of the East elsewhere observed, and the group of wild Belooches and military mercenaries, from every quarter, which made up the scene, reminded the stranger that he was amongst a people of primitive manners, and chiefs who ruled as a military feudalism. The untractable demeanour and uncouth bearing of the Belooches occasionally burst out even in the royal presence; for though devoted to their leaders, these barbarous people do not always show their respect outwardly; and the Hyderabad durbar often presented a strange scene of disorder and tumultuous uproar, incidental to its wild attendants, aided not a little by the discordant screaming of Nautch-women, with their accompanying din of drum and cymbal, marshalled in a corner of the hall by fat Abyssinian eunuchs."-Postans's Personal Observations, pp. 200-205.

SHORT REVIEWS

OF RECENT PUBLICATION S.

Kunstwerke und Künstler in Deutschland. Erster Theil. Künstler und Kunstwerke im Erzgebirge und in Franken. (Works of Art and Artists in Germany. First Part. The Erz Mountains and Franconia.) By Dr. G. F. WAAGEN. Leipzig. 1843.

Ueber die Stellung welche der Baukunst, der Bildhauerei und Malerei unter den Mitteln Menschlicher Bildung zukommt. (On the Position which belongs to Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, in manly Education. A Lecture delivered before the Scientific Union of Berlin.) By Dr. WAAGEN. Leipzig. 1843.

THE first of these works consists of letters written by the worthy director of the Royal Museum at Berlin to an intimate friend (the amiable Frau Directorinn probably), and bid fair to extend over many hundreds of sheets of paper. Some of the letters are eighty pages long; some, mere brief billets, such as vigorous German writers and friends can throw off at intervals of business or pleasure, do not extend beyond five-and-twenty pages; indeed the doctor is a pattern for husbands at least, whose affectionate spouses never find correspondence too long, or any matter concerning the beloved object, uninteresting.

But the public cannot be expected to have that tender sympathy which exists in the conjugal bosom, and if those who are attracted by the title of the book expect to find in it a notice of art and artists in Germany, they will be sadly disappointed by the contents of the Waagenish letters. There are but seven letters in the four hundred pages; these letters only describe works of art and artists in the Erz Mountains and Frankonia-but a very small part of the German map; and by the time the catalogue is concluded, Mrs. Waagen will have been made to peruse more letters than fall to the share of most wives. About artists of the present day the doctor says extremely little; they do not perhaps haunt the districts through which he had passed: on the other hand, arriving at Dresden, he tells us of the amiability of his friend Tieck and his friend Bischof; at Annaberg cousin Zürcher gives the doctor the heartiest reception, and an 'exemplary' bed to lie on; at Wiesenbad he encounters Mr. Eisenstück, a man of most polished forms, as also the venerable father of Oberzollinspektor Frege, who once kept a school; while at Schneeberg the hospitable and love-worthy Mr. Thilo shows him a handsome silk manufactory. He has some smart descriptions of radicals and fat fellows smoking pipes in the diligence, with both of which sort of persons the Berlin-royal-picture-gallery-director, Doctor Waagen, is prodigiously discontent. In these feelings and incidents, as we have said, his amiable lady will have much interest, and will be charmed to think that her

doctor, on quitting the odious radicals and smoke of the post-wagon, should be handed over to cousin Zürcher's hospitality and exemplary bed, and to the urbanity of Herr Frege and Herr Thilo. But the heartless European world will not care for these little domestic joys and sorrows which move the soft heart of Mrs. Waagen.

By far the greater part of the letters, however, are devoted to the consideration of the works of art which the doctor saw; and over these disquisitions, even Mrs. Waagen herself must have grown somewhat weary. The doctor's criticisms are extremely curt and dry-as thus: 'No. 19. Henry de Bles. A Royal Suite. In the late mannered time of the master the figures too long, and the colours cold. No. 20. The Crowning of the Virgin. Gold-ground. In form and colour like No. 8, but much weaker and more faded.'-Such criticisms go on for many scores of pages, and it is manifest that the most brilliant imagination, or the tenderest sympathy in the world cannot extract from the above description, any thing by which to form an idea of the painter and paintings. Ever and anon, one lights upon some curious little passage illustrative of manners and thoughts in the middle ages- -as for instance,

"The most peculiar objects in the church are, however, a collection of a hundred figures in relief. The ten first on either side the choir represent the ages of the two sexes, from the tenth to the hundredth year. Among the men each age is characterized by a four-footed beast, among the women by a bird, of which the appropriation is often very clever. The animals are figures upon shields by the side of the men's and women's figures. By the man at 10 years old is a calf, at 20 a buck, at 30 an ox, at 40 a lion, at 50 a fox, at 60 a wolf, at 70 a dog, at 80 a cat, at 90 an ass, and at 100 death. The wolf must represent the rapacity, the hound the fidelity, the cat the slyness, and the ass the dulness of old age: the other emblems are clear. The women are represented by the quai! at 10, the dove at 20, the pie at 30, the peacock at 40, the hen at 50, the goose at 60, the vulture at 70, the owl at 80, the bat at 90, and by death finally at 100. Here the old German, however, speaks honestly out in a way which, it must be confessed, is any thing but gallant: and the appearance of these figures in a church, and close by figures of holy writ, shows how our ancestors were wont to mingle jest and earnest. Next to the women is represented a man with a scroll having the inscription, 1499 ist gelegt das Fundament 1525 ist das Werk vollendt,' . . . . In the lunette Saint Anne is represented looking very cross in order to keep the holy child, who is supported by the Virgin, from running towards her. Of the six surrounding angels two are bringing forward meat and drink with a great deal of comic joviality. In the arches are angels swinging censers, their wings and floating draperies cleverly filling up the space. On one side of the lower half-centre of the door is a comic angel playing at ball, and another with a ram on his head."

But these are exceedingly rare—and the trouble vast to the luckless reader of the volume.

At Schwabach, at Dinkelsbühl, at Pommersfelden, and other famous cities of which the churches are described, the work will create a little interest. And when he has accomplished his scores of volumes, the doctor's labours may serve to guide collectors and amateurs. The English artist may then profit by them (if, by a wondrous exception to the rule, he should happen to know any language but his own), and the gist

Administrative System of France.

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of the doctor's remarks will no doubt be incorporated into Murray's alldevouring Guide-books.

But the book has no right to the name it has taken; a Royal Academy Catalogue might just as well appear under the title of Art and Artists in England.

If the above work may be found useful to some artists and amateurs in Germany, so much at least cannot be said of the second work named at the head of this notice,-a lecture read by Doctor Waagen to the Berlin Scientific Association. That well-known distich of the Latin Grammar which is so much admired by members of parliament, and which states, that the learning of the ingenuous arts softens the manners and mitigates their ferocity'-is the doctor's theme. He does not in the least settle the question which has given a title to his pamphlet. No person who reads, or hears him, can tell what position painting, sculpture, and architecture, ought to occupy among the mean of manly education but the doctor contents himself pretty much with asserting that their origin is ancient, their effects pleasing and beneficial; that in Greece the fine arts were held in high estimation; that after a period of comparative barbarism, Christian art arose in the middle age; that the world, and especially Berlin, is much interested in art, and the motto is FORWARDS.'

The notable piece finishes with a panegyric on the virtue and enlightenment of the King of Prussia, who is about to administer to the SPIRITUAL WANT (the capitals are the doctor's) of the people. That it is His Majesty's will, cries the Museum-keeper, to advance painting in its monumental meaning, (which has hitherto, with a few exceptions, failed among us from want of space,) is proved by his calling the great master Cornelius among us -All other Art-threads which the death of his late blessed majesty broke asunder, are now begun to be spun anew, &c. &c. The worthy director while he has one eye to art, has evidently another to business, or gratitude if we will-but these royal compliments are apt to cloy upon the English stomach.

Two years since it was our good fortune to hear a most eloquent speech delivered by a Prussian doctor, upon his majesty's birthday he called upon all his guests to support him to a man-he allowed his feelings to overpower him in the most approved fashion: Long live the king,' said he; who will not empty a bumper to a toast so holy?— and so Doctor S- of the Wasserheil-Anstalt of Marienberg nobly tossed off a sparkling bumper-of water. The Waagenish liquor is a little muddy, but not much stronger.

France. Her Governmental, Administrative, and Social Organization, Exposed and Considered, in its Principles, in its Working, and in its Results. London: Madden and Co. 1844. THE author of this important and opportune work chooses, for prudential reasons, to conceal his name. Whoever he be, he has done his country