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into England, became free." The case was argued at three different sittings, in January, February, and May, 1772, and the opinion of the judges was subsequently taken on the pleadings. The glorious result was, that as soon as ever any slave set his foot on English territory, he became free.

From this period Mr. Sharp contemplated the abolition of the slave-trade. As he had delivered his country from the fearful peril of harbouring slavery within its coasts, so he was deeply solicitous to free it from the guilt of this most monstrous traffic. He therefore cordially associated himself with Mr. Clarkson and other enlightened philanthropists, and became Chairman of the Committee formed in 1787 for the Abolition of the Slave-trade. To the close of his life he remained the consistent advocate of the principles he had early avowed. His time, property, and personal labours were consecrated liberally to this noble object,

the churchyard was full, in the outskirts of the parish. Of the hardened and brutal conduct of the men to whom this duty was committed, men taken from the refuse of society, and lost to all sense of morality or decency, instances were related, to which it would be difficult to find a parallel in the annals of human de

parishes, threatened the court at Whitehall, and, in defiance of every precaution, stole its way into the city. A general panic ensued; the nobility and gentry were the first to flee; the royal family followed; and then all, who valued their personal safety more than the considerations of home and interest, prepared to imitate the example. For some weeks thepravity. tide of emigration flowed from every outlet towards the country; it was checked at first by the refusal of the lord mayor to grant certificates of health, and by the opposition of the neighbouring townships, which rose in their own defence, and formed a barrier round the devoted city.

number of artisans and labourers thrown out of

The absence of the fugitives, and the consequent cessation of trade and breaking up of establishments, served to aggravate the calamity. It was calculated that forty thousand servants had been left without a home, and the employment was still more considerable. It is true, that the charity of the opulent seemed to keep pace with the progress of distress. The king subscribed the weekly sum of £1000; the city of £600; the queen-dowager, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of Craven, and the lord mayor, distinguished themselves by the amount of their benefactions; and the magistrates were careful to ensure a constant supply of provisions in the market; yet the families that depended on casual relief for the means of subsistence were necessarily subjected to privations, which rendered them more liable to receive, and less able to subdue, the contagion. The mortality was at first confined chiefly to the lower classes, carrying off, in a larger proportion, the children than the adults, the females than the men. But, by the end of June, so rapid was the diffusion, so destructive were the ravages of the disease, that the civil authorities deemed it time to exercise the powers with which they had been invested by an act of James I., "for the charitable relief and ordering of persons infected with the plague." 1. They divided the parishes into districts, and allotted to each district a competent number of offers, under the denomination of examiners, searchers, nurses, and watchmen. 2. They ordered that the existence of the disease, wherever it might penetrate, should GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE PLAGUE be made known the public by a red cross,

and secured him the admiration of an extensive circle; while his private virtues commanded the veneration and love of his more intimate friends. He died July 6th, 1813, in the 79th year of his age. His library was very extensive, and he possessed a curious collection of Bibles, which he presented to the British and Foreign Bible Society. His principal works are, "Remarks on the Uses of the 'Definitive Article in the Greek Testament," &c.; "A Short Treatise on the English Tongue;' "Remarks on the Prophecies;" "Treatise on the SlaveTrade;" "On Duelling;" "On the Law of Nature and Principles of Action in Man" tracts on "The Hebrew Language;"Illustrations of the Sixtyeighth Psalm."

OF LONDON.

Ar another time, the report of such a victory (over the Dutch fleet in 1665) would have been received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy; but it came at a time when the spirits of men were depressed by one of the most calamitous visitations ever experienced by this or any other nation. In the depth of the last winter, two or three isolated cases of plague had occurred in the outskirts of the metropolis. The fact excited alarm, and directed the attention of the public to the weekly variations in the bills of mortality. On the one hand, the cool temperature of the air, and the frequent changes in the weather, were hailed as favourable circumstances; on the other, it could not be concealed that the number of deaths, from whatever cause it arose, was progressively on the advance. In this state of suspense, alternately agitated by their hopes and fears, men looked to the result with the most intense anxiety; and at length, about the end of May, under the influence of a warmer sun, and with the aid of a close and stagnant atmosphere, the evil burst forth in all its terrors. From the centre of St. Giles's, the infection spread with rapidity over the adjacent

one foot in length, painted on the door, with the words, "Lord, have mercy on us!" placed above it. From that moment the house was closed; all egress for the space of one month was inexorably refused; and the wretched inmates were doomed to remain under the same roof, communicating death one to another. Of these, many sunk under the horrors of their situation; many were rendered desperate. They eluded the vigilance, or corrupted the fidelity, of the watchmen; and by their escape, instead of avoiding, served only to disseminate the contagion. 3. Provision was also made for the speedy interment of the dead. In the daytime, officers were always on the watch to withdraw from public view the bodies of those who expired in the streets; during the night the tinkling of a bell, accompanied with the glare of links, announced the approach of the pestcart, making its round to receive the victims of the last twenty-four hours. No coffins were prepared; no funeral service was read; no mourners were permitted to follow the remains of their relations or friends. The cart proceeded to the nearest cemetery, and shot its burden into the common grave, a deep and spacious pit, capable of holding some scores of bodies, and dug in the churchyard, or, when

The discase generally manifested itself by the usual febrile symptoms of shivering, nausea, head-ache, and delirium. In some, these affections were so mild, as to be mistaken for a slight and transient indisposition. The victim saw not,

or would not see, the insidious approach of his foe; he applied to his usual avocations, till a sudden faintness came on, the maculæ, the fatal "tokens" appeared on his breast, and within an hour life was extinct. But, in most cases, the pain and delirium left no room for doubt. On the third or fourth day, buboes or

carbuncles arose; if these could be made to

suppurate, recovery might be anticipated; if they resisted the efforts of nature, and the skill of the physician, death was inevitable. The sufferings of the patient often threw them into paroxysms of frenzy. They burst the bands by which they were confined to their beds; they precipitated themselves from the windows; they ran naked into the streets, and plunged into the river.

Men of the strongest minds were lost in amazement, when they contemplated this scene of woe and desolation; the weak and the credulous became the dupes of their own fears and imaginations. Tales the most improbable, and predictions the most terrific, were circulated; numbers assembled at different cemeteries to behold the ghosts of the dead walk round the pits in which their bodies had been deposited; and crowds believed that they saw in the heavens a sword of flame, stretching from Westminster to the Tower. To add to their terrors came the fanatics, who felt themselves inspired to act the part of prophets. One of these, in a state of nudity, walked through the city, bearing on his head a pan of burning coals, and denouncing the judgments of God on its sinful inhabitants; another, assuming the character of Jonah, proclaimed aloud, as he passed, "Yet forty days, and London shall be destroyed;" and a third might be met, sometimes by day, sometimes by night, advancing with a hurried step, and exclaiming, with a deep sepulchral voice, “Oh, the great and dreadful God!"

During the months of July and August, the weather was sultry, the heat more and more oppressive. The eastern parishes, which at first had been spared, became the chief seat of pestilence, and the more substantial citizens, whom it had hitherto respected, suffered in common with their less opulent neighbours. In many places, the regulations of the magistrates could no longer be enforced. The nights did not suffice for the burial of the dead, who were now borne in coffins to their graves at all hours of the day; and it was inhuman to shut up the dwellings of the infected poor, whose families must have perished through want, had they not been permitted to go and seek relief. London presented a wide and heart-rending scene of misery and desolation. Rows of houses stood tenantless, and open to the winds; others, in almost equal numbers, exhibited the red cross flaming on the doors. The chief thoroughfares, so lately trodden by the feet of thousands, were overgrown with grass. The few individuals who ventured abroad walked in the middle; and, when they met, declined on opposite sides, to avoid the

contact of each other. But, if the solitude and stillness of the streets impressed the mind with awe, there was something yet more appalling in the sounds which occasionally burst on the

ear.

At one moment were heard the ravings of delirium, or the wail of woe, from the infected dwelling; at another, the merry song, or the loud and careless laugh, issuing from the wassailers at the tavern, or the inmates of the brothel. Men became so familiarized with the form, that they steeled their feelings against the terrors, of death. They waited each for his turn with the resignation of the Christian, or the indifference of the stoic. Some devoted themselves to exercises of piety; others sought relief in the riot of dissipation, and the recklessness of despair.

September came; the heat of the atmosphere began to abate; but, contrary to expectation, the mortality increased. Formerly, a hope of recovery might be indulged; now, infection was the certain harbinger of death, which followed, generally, in the course of three days, often within the space of twentyfour hours. The privy council ordered an experiment to be tried, which was grounded on the practice of former times. To dissipate the pestilential miasm, fires of sea-coal, in the proportion of one fire to every twelve houses, were kindled in every street, court, and alley of London and Westminster. They were kept burning three days and nights, and were at last extinguished by a heavy and continuous fall of rain. The next bill exhibited a considerable reduction in the amount of deaths; and the survivors congratulated each other on the cheering prospect. But the cup was soon dashed from their lips; and in the following week more than ten thousand victims, a number hitherto unknown, sunk under the augmented violence of the disease. Yet even now,

SCENERY, &c., IN ABYSSINIA.

No. II.

In our former notice of Abyssinia we have given some rapid sketches of the scenery,-its mountains and plains, its rivers, its cultivated fields, its deserts and forests; we propose now to present a few traits of its different inhabitants, and, in a succeeding number, to detail some particulars of the Christianity of the country.

It was not possible in the distracted state of the empire, owing to the civil dissensions which had reigned there for some years, for Mr. Salt to reach the city of Gondar; he contented himself, therefore, with depositing, into the hands of the Ras Welled Selassé, the presents intended for the reigning sovereign, and, after reaching Antalo, to return again to the coast, with a view of departing from the country.

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During the three weeks we staid at Chelicut," Mr. Salt adds, "I spent a great part of each day with the Ras, being allowed free access to his presence, through a private door communicating between the gardens of our respective habitations: on these occasions I generally found him engaged in the administration of justice, or in receiving chieftains, and ladies of consequence, who came from distant parts of the country, to pay their duty; and, when otherwise unemployed, invariably occupied in playing at chess, a game to which he appeared greatly devoted."

The Ras's wife, Ozoro Mantwab, was sister of the emperor; her person was what might in any country have been esteemed handsome; her form, though small, was very elegant; her features were regular; her teeth were fine; and her hair was raven black. Such is a description of the highest personages of the Welled Selassé, who held the high posts of court of Ethiopia. Such the last faint traces Ras, and Betwudet of the empire--the last of that celebrated queen of Sheba who traoffice somewhat analogous to that which Pha-velled to Jerusalem "to prove Solomon with raoh conferred on Joseph, when he set him as hard questions." Such the shadow of the "Lord over his house"-was a person of sin- mysterious Prester John, the monarch of all the gular energy of character. In the time of wonderful tales of the middle age, and the Mr. Bruce (1770) he was a young man of some object of doubt and curiosity to all its wonderconsequence about the court; but the situa- loving travellers. The Abyssinians, however, tion which led to his greatness, as, virtually, retain with much pride the traditions of their the governing prince of Abyssinia, was that of carly relation with the "chosen city of God," Balgudda, or protector of the salt caravans, its temple, and its adoration,-from the time which come up from the plains of Assa Durwa, of Solomon to the period of the ministry of --an office conferring considerable consequence the apostles, when the "Eunuch of great auon the possessor, from the assessment of duties, thority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and the power he possesses of withholding who had the charge of all her treasure, came this article of consumption, as well as barter, to Jerusalem to worship." Though they call from the interior provinces. After a series of themselves Itiopiawan, and their country vicissitudes, and a life of predatory warfare, Itiopia, they prefer the names of Agazian for in the fastnesses of those plains, maintained the people, and Agzi for the kingdom, from with Ras Michael, "the old Lion," as he the term Axgagee, said by the early writers to was emphatically called in the country, signify "the Lord of Riches." Even to the time he raised himself to the high situation of of the Portuguese travellers the stories told by governor of all the provinces eastward of the them of the immense wealth of the Abyssinian Tacassé. Here he espoused the cause of monarch's tributary kings far surpass belief. Ayto Solomon, and of Tecla Georgis, his Down to a recent period, a body of Jews called. brother, who successively filled the throne of Falasjas (or the exiled), remained for ages in Gondar, by both which emperors he was no- the province of Samee, supposed by some to minated Ras, and Betwudet of Abyssinia. have been a portion of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Their kings always bore the name of Gideon, and their queens that of Judith. Their dynasty becoming extinct, they are now scattered through the Abyssinian dominions. They speak Hebrew, or, at the least, Gheez, a dialect of the Arabian language, and are the mechanics of the towns.

when hope had yielded to despair, their deli-
verance was at hand. The high winds which
usually accompany the autumnal equinox,
cooled and purified the air; the fever, though
equally contagious, assumed a less malignant
form, and its ravages were necessarily more
confined, from the diminution of the population
on which it had hitherto fed. The weekly The duties of the Bas's situation, who may
burials successively decreased from thousands be regarded as an independent ruler, are ex-
to hundreds; and, in the beginning of Decem-tremely arduous. Throughout the extensive
ber, seventy-three parishes were pronounced
clear of the disease. The intelligence was
hailed with joy by the emigrants, who returned
in crowds to take possession of their homes,
and resume their usual occupations in Febru-
ary, the court was once more fixed at White-
hall, and the nobility and gentry followed the
footsteps of the sovereign. Though more than
one hundred thousand individuals are said to
have perished, yet, in a short time, the chasm
in the population was no longer discernible.
The plague continued indeed to linger in par-
ticular spots, but its terrors were forgotten or
despised; and the streets, so recently aban-
doned by the inhabitants, were again thronged
with multitudes in the cager pursuit of profit,
or pleasure, or crime.-Lingard's History of
England.

THE IDOL.

WHATEVER passes as a cloud between
The mental eye of faith, and things unseen,
Causing that brighter world to disappear,
Or seem less lovely, and its hopes less dear,
This is our world, our idol, though it bear
Affection's impress, or devotion's air.

The journey which we gave in a preceding number, related to Mr. Salt's progress through the interior, in the month of March. In the month of April he pursued his travels through the vale of Chelicut, traversing, at Cali, an uncultivated country, abounding in wild animals. The scenery was similar to that so frequently described about the Cape of Good Hope,-broad expanses of brushwood, beyond which the tops of distant mountains rose, the space between them being like immeasurable chasms. At Werketavé he came among the Agows, one of the many subdivisions of people speaking a distinct language, so peculiar to Ethiopia that from thence the Arabs were led to call the country Abeshin, which signifies a mixed people," the source of the geographical term of Abyssinia,-a name not at all admitted by the natives.

district under "his personal jurisdiction," all
crimes, differences, and disputes, of however
important or trifling a nature, are ultimately
referred to his determination; all rights of
inheritage are decided according to his will;
and most wars are carried on by himself in
person. To rule a savage people, of so many
different dispositions, manners, and usages, as
the Abyssinians, requires a firmness of mind
and a vigour of constitution rarely united in
the same individual, at his advanced age;
yet, "whenever," says Mr. Salt, "I have seen
him in the exercise of his power, he has shown
a vivacity of expression, a quickness of com-
prehension, and a sort of commanding energy,
that overawed all who approached him.
During his continuance in power he has made
it his uniform practice to treat the different
attempts at rebellion with perfect indifference,
-after a second attempt against his life, by the
same persons, he has been known to pardon,"
and even to permit the parties convicted to
attend about his court, priding himself parti-
cularly on having never been guilty of the
cruelties of Ras Michael,-no provocation in-
ducing him to cut off a limb, put out an eye,'
or commit any other of the atrocious acts
which stained the character of that extraor-
dinary leader.

(To be Continued.)

THE GENET.

THE genet is one of the most beautiful | animals of the genus to which it belongs. It is about the size of a small cat, but is of a longer form, with short legs, a sharppointed snout, upright ears, slightly pointed, and a very long tail. The colour of the genet is commonly a pale, reddish grey, with a black or dusky line running along the back, where the hair is rather longer than on the other parts, and forms the appearance of a very slight mane. Along the sides of the body run several rows of roundish black spots; the cheeks,

ANECDOTE OF MERCIER ST. LEGER. Tur Abbé Mercier St. Leger was the head librarian and great living ornament of the Library of St. Genevieve, Paris, some fifty years he was one of the most learned biblioago; graphers of France, and as meek and amiable as he was learned. His heart was yet more admirable than his head.

sides of the neck, and the limbs, are spotted in a proportionably smaller pattern than the body, and the tail is annulated with black. The genet is an animal of a mild disposition, and easily tamed. It is a native of the western parts of Asia, but is also said to be found in Spain. A warm climate, however, seems necessary to its health. In Constantinople these animals are domesticated like the cat, and are said to be more effectual in clearing houses of rats and mice.

the number of devoted victims! That sight cost him his life. A sudden horror, followed by alternate shiverings and flushings of heat, hung upon his brow. He was carried into the immediately seized him. A cold perspiration house of a stranger. His utterance became feeble and indistinct, and it seemed as if the hand of death were already upon him.

Yet he rallied awhile; his friends came to and perfect recovery. soothe him; hopes were entertained of a rapid But his fine full figure gradually shrunk; the colour as gradually deserted his cheek; and his eye sensibly lacked that lustre which it used to shed upon all around. His limbs became feeble, and his step was both tremulous and slow. He lingered five years, and died at ten at night on the 13th of May, 1799. What he left behind as annotations, both in separate papers and on the margins of books, is prodigious.-Dr. Dibdin's Tour in France and Germany.

BRITISH COLLEGE OF HEALTH, KING'S

CROSS, NEW ROAD, LONDON. MORISON'S UNIVERSAL VEGETABLE MEDICINE.

But the Revolution was now fast approaching, and the meek spirit of Mercier could ill sustain the shock of such a frightful calamity. Besides, he loved his country yet dearer than his books. His property became involved, his income regularly diminished, and even his privacy was invaded. In 1792, a decree passed the convention for issuing a commission for the examination of monuments. Mercier was appointed one of the thirty-three members of which the commission was composed, and the famous Barrère was also of the number. Barrère, fertile in projects, however visionary and destructive, proposed to Mercier, as a bright thought, "to make a short extract from every book in the National Library; to have these extracts superbly printed by Didot; and to burn all the books from which they were taken." It never occurred to this revolutionising idiot that there might be a thousand copies of the same work, and that some hundreds of these Sir,-About the latter end of July, or beginning of copies might be out of the national library! Angust, we went to see our daughter at Huntingdon, not Of course Mercier laughed at the project, and knowing she was ill; but when we arrived we found her made the projector ashamed of it. Robes- very ill, and her life was despaired of; she had been ill three weeks, and could get nothing through her, though all pierre, rather fiend than man, now ruled the medical assistance had been tried. She had taken great destinies of France. On the 7th of July, 1794, quantities of castor-oil and other medicine they thought fit Mercier happened to be passing along the efficacy of Morison's pills, I persuaded her to take them, to prescribe, but all in vain. Knowing by experience the streets, when he saw sixty-seven human beings telling her the effect they had had on her sister; she conabout to undergo the butchery of the guillo-sented, and got a box of No. 2, and took six; and in about three hours they found a passage through, and the pain tine. Every avenue was crowded by specta- abated. Next morning she took ten, and they had the tors, who were hurrying towards the horrid desired effect, by thoroughly cleansing her, that she went spectacle. Mercier was carried along by the said her father had persuaded her to take Morison's Pills, to sleep for some time. The neighbours and her husband torrent; but, having just strength enough to and she was dying, for they had killed her; but, blessed raise his head, he looked up, and beheld his be God! she awoke, and had lost all pain, and asked for old and intimate friend the ex-abbé ROGER in taking a few boxes of the pills is perfectly well. My wife a piece of meat to be broiled, which she ate; and by

Inveterate Constipation Overcome. To Mr. Earl,

was taken with the cramp all over, and violent pain, and shaking, that the room, as well as the bed, shook, attended with vomiting and purging. I gave her six pills, No. 2, which had some effect. Next day you, worthy Sir, ordered ten, which had their desired effect, and, by taking a few boxes is perfectly well; so I ascribe to Morison's Pills as an instrument under God the means of saving the life of my wife and daughter.

WILLIAM MAYES, Basket-maker.

East Road, Cambridge, Oct. 6, 1832. P.S.-If requested, oath will be made to the above Cure of Dropsy.

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statement.

To Mr. Borlase,

Sir,-For the great benefit I have received from the use of "Morison's Universal Medicines;" I am bound in gr titude to return my thanks for the blessing of a restoration to health, at a time when I was in despair of a recovery. For the encouragement and good of my fellow-sufferers, I beg you will publish these simple facts:-Distracted with violent pains in my stomach and right side for the last twelve months, I had been under three different doctors during six of these months-was treated for a liver affec tion-took a great quantity of their medicine, to no earthly purpose of good, but, on the contrary, getting daily wesse and worse, until a fresh attack took place of a Dropsy in the lower limbs, and my legs and feet were swollen to an enormons size.

Fortunately, in June last, I went to a shoemaker, ins Ann-street, to get something large made for my feet, when he told me to apply to you immediately for some of the "Universal Medicines," knowing they would case me, which I did, and am grateful in stating that, by persevering daily according to your instructions for foe months, I am perfectly cured of my dropsical, liver, and stomach affections. I am, Sir, most respectfully yours, &c., ELLEN STEWART

No. 79, North Queen Street, Belfast.
October 22, 1832.

CAUTION TO THE PUBLIC. MORISON'S UNIVERSAL MEDICINES having superseded the use of almost all the Patent Me dicines which the wholesale venders have foisted apos the credulity of the searchers after health, for so many years, the town druggists and chemists, not able to establi a fair fame on the invention of any plausible means of competition, have plunged into the mean expedient of pa donble 7), a being who never existed, as prescribing a ing up a "Dr. Morrison" (observe the subterfuge of the "Vegetable Universal Pill, No. 1 and 2," for the express purpose (by means of this forged imposition upon the pat HEALTH." MEDICINEigating the estimation of the "UNIVERSAL

of the "BRITISH COLLEGE OF

KNOW ALL MEN, then, that this attempted delusion tence), none can be held genuine by the College but those must fall under the fact, that (however specious the per which have "Morison's Universal Medicines" impressed upon the Government Stamp attached to each box an

Packet, to counterfeit which is felony by the laws of the

land.

The "Vegetable Universal Medicines" are to be had at

the College, New Road, King's Cross, London; at the Surrey Branch, 96, Great Surrey-street; Mr. Field's, 16, Astreet, Quadrant; Mr. Chappell's, Royal Exchange; M Walker's, Lamb's-conduit-passage, Red-lion-square; Mr. J. Loft's, Mile-end-road; Mr. Bennett's, Covent-gande market; Mr. Haydon's, Fleur-de-lis-court, Norton-falgates Mr. Haslet's, 147, Ratcliffe-highway; Messrs. Norbury's Brentford; Mrs. Stepping, Clare-market; Messrs. Salmon, Little Bell-alley; Miss Varai's, 24, Lucas-street, Connercial-road; Mrs. Beech's, 7, Sloane-square, Chelsea; M. Chapple's, Royal Library, Pall-mall; Mrs. Pippen's, Is. Wingrove-place, Clerkenwell; Miss C. Atkinson, 19, New Trinity-grounds, Deptford; Mr. Taylor, Hanwell; Mr. Kirtlam, 4, Bolingbroke-row, Walworth; Mr. Payne, 64, Jermyn-street; Mr. Howard, at Mr. Wood's, hair-dresses, Richmond; Mr. Meyar, 3, May's-buildings, Blackheath; Mr. Griffiths, Wood-wharf, Greenwich; Mr. Pitt, 1, Ca wall-road, Lambeth; Mr. J. Dobson, 35, Craven-street, Strand; Mr. Oliver, Bridge-street, Vauxhall; Mr. J. Monck, Bexley Heath; Mr. T. Stokes, 12, St. Rouan's, Deptford; Mr. Cowell, 22, Terrace, Pimlico; Mr. Past, 96, Edgware-road; Mr. Hart, Portsiaonth-place, Kenaing ten-lane; Mr. Charlesworth, grocer, 124, Shoreditch; M. R. G. Bower, grocer, 22, Brick-lane, St. Luke's; Mr. S. J. Avila, pawnbroker, opposite the church, Hackney; Ma J. S. Briggs, 1, Brunswick-place, Stoke Newington; Mr. T. Gardner, 95, Wood-street, Cheapside, and 9, Nortefalgate; Mr. J. Williamson, 15, Seabright-place, Hackneyroad; Mr. J. Osborn, Wells-street, Hackney road, and Homerton; Mr. H. Cox, grocer, 16, Union-street, Bishops gate-street: Mr. T. Walter, cheesemonger, 67, Hoxton O Town; and at one agent's in every principal town in Great Britain, the Islands of Guernsey and Malta; and throughout the whole of the United States of America.

N. B. The College will not be answerable for the consequences of any medicines sold by any chymist or dreggie, as none such are allowed to sell the "Universal cines."

Printed by J. HADDON and Co.; and Published by J. CRISP, at No. 27, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, where all Advertisements and Commu cations for the Editor are to be addressed.

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Such is the last and noblest monument | even for a Roman emperor. The Coof Roman grandeur and of Roman crime; liseum, owing to the solidity of its matethe scene of the greatest magnificence rials, survived the era of barbarism, and and of the greatest barbarity which the was so perfect in the thirteenth century world ever witnessed; the stupendous that games were exhibited in it, not for the amusement of the Romans only, but of all the nobility of Italy. The destruction of this wonderful edifice is to be ascribed to causes more active, in general, in the erection than in the demolition of magnificent buildings-to taste and vanity. When Rome began to revive, and architecture arose from its ruins, every rich and powerful citizen wished to have, not a commodious dwelling merely, but a palace. The Coliseum was an immense quarry at hand; the common people stole, the grandees obtained permission to

'Which on its public shows unpeopled Rome, And held uncrowded nations in its womb;" the rendezvous where eighty-seven thousand Romans met together to give the last touch of degradation to their national character, and replace their falling spirit with a brutal ferocity. It was an amphitheatre erected by Titus and Vespasian, out of part only of the materials and on a portion of the site of Nero's golden house, which had been demolished by order of Vespasian, as too sumptuous

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carry off, its materials, till the interior | bition of public spectacles, generally the
was dismantled, and the exterior half combats of gladiators or of wild beasts,
"The first day's games,'
stripped of its ornaments. It is difficult or of both.
to say when this system of depredation, says the historian, "given in this sump-
so sacrilegious in the opinion of the an- tuous butchery, cost the nation eleven
tiquary, would have stopped, had not millions of gold. The blood of five thou-
Benedict XIV., a pontiff of great judg-sand animals bathed its arena. Man and
ment, erected a cross in the centre of the his natural enemy the beast of the desert,
arena (which will be seen in the engraving the conqueror and the conquered, writhed
at the head of this article), and declared in agony together on its ensanguined
the place sacred out of respect to the floor, and eighty-seven thousand spec-
blood of the many martyrs who were tators raised their horrid plaudits.'
butchered there during the persecutions.
This declaration, if issued two or three
centuries earlier, would have preserved
the Coliseum entire; it can now only
protect its remains and transmit them in
their present state to posterity.

"Never," says an eloquent observer, "did human art present to the eye a fabric so well calculated, from its size and its form, to surprise and delight. Let the spectator first place himself to the north, and contemplate that side which depredation, barbarism, and ages, have spared; he will behold with admi

It was the contemplation of this spot,
and the recollections of this kind with
which it stands associated, that suggested
to Lord Byron the very spirited sketch of
the death of a gladiator which he intro-
duces into his Childe Harold, and with
which we will close this article.

"I see before me the gladiator lie :
He leans upon his hand-his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony,
And his drooped head sinks gradually low-
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow
From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one,
Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now
The arena swims around him he is gone,

66

wretch who won.

He heard it, but he heeded not-his eyes
Were with his heart, and that was far away;
He reck'd not of the life he lost nor prize,
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay,
There were his young Barbarians all at play,
There was their Dacian mother-he, their sire,
Butchered to make a Roman holiday-
And unavenged?-Arise, ye Goths, and glut your
All this rushed with his blood-Shall he expire

"The cafila consisted of sever! band" d

mules and asses, with their loads,

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been escorted from Assa Durwa,
this time the important office of .
Hannes, a nephew of the Ras, who
and had gone down for the purp
about 200 of his followers. As they
ed into the valley, the inhabitants o
went out to receive them, and greet
with the same joyful acclamations welde
from battle. The service of escoring thes
they honour their warriors when they
cafilas may be considered as extremely lazac i-
ous; the whole neighbourhood of the plain
from which the salt is procured being infested
by a cruel race of Galla, who make it a prac-
tice to lie in wait for the individuals engaged
in cutting it. These poor fellows, who are
said, in the absence of the Balgudda and his
generally of the lowest order of natives, are
parties, to be compelled to lie down flat on the
surface, when working, that they may escape
the observation of their barbarous enemies,
and, on the approach of a stranger, they are
described as running away, with great alarm,
to the mountains. Even when the Balgudda
and his soldiers are present, frequent skirmishes
take place between them and the savage bor
derers, in which the Galia, however, are gene-
rally the sufferers. On the present expedition

was considered as unusually small: the sol-
diers who had shown their prowess in these
actions wearing small pieces of red cloth on
their spears, by way of an honourable badge
of distinction. Soon after their arrival the
Ras went up into the balcony in front of his
house to receive them, when they passed before
him in review, dancing, shouting, and exulting,
as is the practice at the Mascal."

ration its wonderful extent, well-propor- Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the six only had been killed; and this number tioned stories, and flying lines, that retire and vanish without break or interruption. Next, let him turn to the south, and examine those stupendous arches which, stripped as they are of their external decorations, still astonish us by their solidity and duration. Then let him enter, range through the lofty arcades, and, ascending the vaulted seats, consider the vast mass of ruin that surrounds him-insulated walls, immense stones suspended in the air, arches covered with weeds and shrubs, vaults opening upon other ruins; in short, above, below, and around, one vast collection of magnificence and devastation, of grandeur and decay."

After these notices of the stateliness

ire!"

SCENERY, &c., IN ABYSSINIA.
No. II.

(Continued from page 287.) "THERE appears" says Mr. Salt, "to exist which still characterises these ruins, need and the Abyssinians, except that the Agows only a slight difference between this people we wonder at the superstitious enthusiasm are, perhaps, on the whole, a stouter race of apparent in the old Roman prophecy?-men; their language is, nevertheless, perfectly "Quamdiu stabit Colyseus, stabit et distinct. They are distinguished by the name Roma; quando cadet Colyseus, cadet of the Tchertz, or Tacazze Agows, and the Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et country they inhabit extends from Lasta to mundus."

"While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And, when Rome falls, the world."

The order and arrangement of the seats are still visible; and nothing can be more admirably contrived than the vomitories for facilitating the ingress and egress of all classes to and from their respective seats without disorder or confusion. There was, it is thought, an upper gallery, for the multitude, of which there are now no remains. It must, indeed, when filled, have offered a most imposing spectacle. The very lowest computation allows that it would contain eighty thousand spec

tators.

It is pretty well known that this vast amphitheatre was designed for the exhi

Shiré.

According to tradition, the Agows were once worshippers of the Nile; but so late as the seventeenth century they were converted to the Christian religion, and are now more particular in their attention to its duties than most of the other natives of Abyssinia. Like the people of Dixan, they are very regular in their morning devotion; for which purpose the inhabitants of each village assemble before the door of their respective chiefs, at the earliest dawn, and recite their prayers in a kind of rude chorus together. A very high opinion is entertained by the Agows of their former consequence, and they declare that they were never conquered, except by the inhabitants of Tigré.

On the 20th of April notice was given of the near approach of a cafila, which had been for some days expected from the salt plain, and of this cafila serves to explain some of our in the afternoon it arrived. As the narrative previous details, relating to the rise of the Ras Welled Selasse, we extract it at length;-it is a picture of life in Africa.

The chief amusement of the lower class of Antalo, during the seasons of festivity that succeed the severe fasts of an Abyssinian Lent, consist in playing at a game called "Kersa," which is precisely similar to the common English game of "Bandy." Large parties meet for this purpose, the inhabitants of whole villages frequently challenging each other to the contest; on these occasions, as might be expected, the game is violently disequally matched, it sometimes takes up the puted; and, when the combatants are pretty greater part of the day to decide. The victors afterwards return shouting and dancing to their homes, amidst the loud acclamations of their female friends.

It seems that, in Abyssinia, applications are made at the gateway of the Ras for justice. On one occasion, when Mr. Salt was taking a midnight repast with him, certain complainants came crying "Abait, abait," master, master,the mode in which suppliants address their chiefs on these occasions. The Ras, then, attended by some of his confidential people, and a few Shangalla slaves, admitted them, and, listening to their complaint, ordered a day to hear them in public. The Shangalla who are in attendance on the Ras are negroes; this term being the general appellation for that race of the interior, as the words Taltal and Shiho are applied to the tribes of the coast. The Shangalla, however, are mostly captives taken in the lower neighbourhood of the Tacazze river, or in the wild forests northward of Abyssinia; in some instances they are brought by traders from beyond the Nile, and even from so far a distance as the Bahr el Abiad. From some of these latter Mr. Salt acquired the following information respecting the countries from which slaves are procured. The tribe of which his informant was a member was called

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