England, if it suits your affairs. You are the best judge of your father's temper. If you think it would be obliging to him, or necessary for you, I will go with you immediately to ask his pardon and his blessing. If that is not proper at first, I think the best scheme is going to the Spa. When you come back, you may endeavour to make your father admit of seeing me, and treat with mine (though I persist in believing it will be to no purpose). But I cannot think of living in the midst of my relations and acquaintances after so unjustifiable a step-so unjustifiable to the world; but I think I can justify myself to myself. I again beg you to have a coach to be at the door early Monday morning, to carry us some part of our way, wherever you resolve our journey shall be. If you determine to go to the lady's house, you had best come with a coach and six at seven o'clock to-morrow. She and I will be in the balcony which looks on the road; you have nothing to do but stop under it, and we will come down to you. Do in this what you like; but after all think very seriously. Your letter, which will be waited for, is to determine every thing.

"You can show me no goodness I shall not be sensible of. However, think again, and resolve never to think of me if you have the least doubt, or that it is likely to make you uneasy in your fortune. I believe, to travel is the most likely way to make a solitude agreeable, and not tiresome. Remember you have promised it.

""Tis something odd for a woman that brings nothing to expect any thing; but after the way of my education I dare not pretend to live but in some degree suitable to it. I had rather die than return to a dependency upon relations I have disobliged. Save me from that fear, if you love me. If you cannot, or think that I ought not to expect it, be sincere and tell me so. 'Tis better I should not be yours at all, than, for a short happiness, involve myself in ages of misery. I hope there will never be occasion for this precaution; but, however, 'tis necessary to make it. I depend entirely upon your honour, and I cannot suspect you of any way doing wrong. Do not imagine I shall be angry at any thing you can tell me. Let it be sincere: do not impose upon a woman that leaves all things for you."

ART. V.-An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,written in Egypt during the Years 1833, 34, and 35, partly from Notes made during a former Visit to that Country in the Years 1825, 26, 27, and 28. By EDWARD WILLIAM LANE, 2 Vols. London: Knight. 1836.

MR. LANE is manifestly a first-rate Arabic scholar. He also proves himself by these volumes to be a man minutely and familiarly acquainted with the manners and customs of the Moos lims (as he writes the word) and other modern inhabitants of Egypt, in the various stages and relations of life, public, social, and domestic. This amount and accuracy of knowledge with regard to these people is of rare occurrence; and, indeed we believe, there never before has been published so full and plain an account of the subjects here discussed, as the one now upon our table. The work con

tains an extraordinary mass of amusing, interesting, and valuable details; nor need we marvel at the Committee of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, having urged and patronized its publication; for assuredly it is calculated to serve their purpose in an eminent degree, and upon a great variety of matters.

Mr. Lane states, that while (and all the world knows the same holds true of Mohhammadans in general,) the Moosʼlims (we abide by his mode of writing Arabic words for reasons afterwards to be explained) are extremely averse from giving information on subjects connected with their religion or superstition to persons whom they suspect of differing from them in creed, and observances-they are very ready to talk on such subjects with those who they think are acquainted with these topics. Now, his account of the means by which he persuaded the people in question that he was one of these enlightened persons is curious enough, and deserves to be noticed in our introductory observations.

He says, that after a year's residence in Egypt, he was able to converse with the inhabitants with tolerable ease. In the course of his extended sojourn amongst them, we may be satisfied therefore that his fluency of utterance, and habits of thinking in the Arabic language, in which he had made considerable progress even before visiting Egypt at all, had become a great deal more complete. He goes on to state that he associated almost constantly with Moos'lims of various ranks, his principal purpose seeming to have been to perfect himself in their native tongue, and in the knowledge of Egyptian manners and customs, before the innovations of their present ruler, and the introduction of European principles of sentiment and conduct have obliterated their mode of life, many persons, as it now appears, have erroneously deemed to be almost immutable. He continues :

"I have lived, as they live, conforming with their general habits; and in order to make them familiar and unreserved towards me on every subject, have always avowed my agreement with them in opinion whenever my conscience would allow me, and in most other cases, refrained from the expression of my dissent, as well as from every action which might give them disgust; abstaining from eating food forbidden by their religion, and drinking wine, &c.; and even from habits merely disagreeable to them; such as the use of knives and forks at meals. Having made myself acquainted with all their common religious ceremonies, I have been able to escape exciting, in strangers, any suspicion of my being a person who had no right to intrude among them, whenever it was necessary for me to witness any Mohhammadan rite or festival. While, from the dress which I have found most convenient to wear, I am generally mistaken, in public for a Turk, my acquaintances, of course, know me to be an Englishman; but I constrain them to treat me as a Moos'lim, by my freely acknowledging the hand of Providence in the introduction and diffusion of the Mohhammmadan religion, and, when interrogated, avowing my belief in the Messiah, in accordance with the words of the Ckoor-a'n, as the word of

God, infused into the womb of the Virgin Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him."—vol. i, pp. vii, viii.

Having thus generally obtained a slight knowledge from some of the most lax of the believers, he has been enabled frequently to draw into conversation better informed persons upon the desired topics, by means of whom, besides salaried tutors, he has acquired, authenticated, or corrected many things. Since by these methods he has generally passed, without being taken for a Christian, the reader will readily conceive that he has enjoyed peculiar opportunities of judging of the people he describes. At the same time it occurs to us, from his own showing, that he must have laid himself open to the inference of one of the Moos lims, who said, that by conforming with many of their ceremonies, he tacitly professed himself to belong to their faith. When our author, for instance, entered one of the most sacred mosques in the Egyptian metropolis, on one of the most distinguished of the Mohhammadan festivals, and probably as he hints, only escaped detection and violence by acquitting himself in the usual manner, that is-" by walking round the bronze screen which surrounds the monument over the spot where the head of the martyr (El-Hhosey'n) is said to be buried, and then putting myself into the regular postures of prayer"-did he conduct himself as a sincere and consistent Christian? Though it is not for us to take the author or any one else to task concerning his faith, we have a right to let him show himself upon his own conditions; and if these are censurable, to say so, how curious or important soever may be the ends served. We fear that much intercourse with persons or nations, who do not acknowledge the authority and sanctions of our religion, has frequently, as in the case of amateur-travellers, a tendency to induce a latitudinarianism of feeling and conduct, that cannot be defended on any principle of consistency or enlightened liberality.

Whether right or wrong in our implied censure of Mr. Lane, one thing is certain-this is, as already announced, that he has brought to light so much of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians as to enable the most ordinary reader to contemplate and survey these people with far more assured feelings of accuracy than can be experienced regarding many other nations, some of them nearer home, and which have been traversed and described by hundreds of book-making tourists. Every one must feel persuaded, after perusing these two volumes, that were he at home as respects the language, he might with confidence set himself down, without farther tuition, among any of the classes of the modern Egyptians to be found in Cairo. Former writers have told us a great deal of the Arab character, when describing the people who now dwell on the banks of the Nile; but their delineations have generally contained Turkish rather than Arab manners, or have not been sufficiently cognizant

of the peculiar circumstances that have modified and moulded the modern Egyptians, arising either from ignorance of their language, or the want of opportunities of becoming competent judges of their every-day habits and prevailing modes of thinking.

We have alluded above to the author's method of writing Arabic words, which is different from that of most other authors. The reason he alleges for doing so is that since he has been obliged, from the nature of his minute and novel information, to employ a great number of Arabic terms and phrases, many of which are not to be found in European characters in any other book, he thought it necessary to follow a uniform system, and to exhibit all such words in a form that any English reader, by observing a few plain directions, may pronounce them with tolerable correctness. In approval of the author's scheme, we may add, that in a work of the kind which is calculated to be so entertaining and instructive to the general reader, a farther and most important end is served, viz. that of being an excellent vocabulary and guide to all Arabic students, who make use of the English tongue; especially as he has introduced an immense number of the most commonly uttered and descriptive terms as they are pronounced and applied in Cairo, which deservedly maintains the honour of being the best school of Arabic literature, science, and art, in the Moos'lim world.

Before proceeding to select a few morsels from these volumes, it is necessary to state that there is an immense number of illustrative engravings interspersed throughout them; and that though these may not embellish the pages, they cleverly and with much force explain the text. The author sketched for himself, and manifestly with a close regard to fidelity; but still there has been so much that was tasteful, picturesque, or curious in his subjects, as to render it extremely pleasant to study them; dresses, specimens of architecture, domestic utensils, furniture, &c., succeeding one another in vast profusion.

While Cairo is the metropolis of Egypt, it is the great source, and almost the exclusive field whence Mr. Lane has drawn the materials of his present "Account." Its population he computes at 240,000, while that of Egypt at present he supposes to be less than two millions. Of these the two largest classes are the Moos'lims, who have descended from various Arab tribes,which have settled in Egypt at different periods, and the Copts, or Christian Egyptians, who are considered by many to be the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the country. The former of these classes amounts probably to 1,750,000; latter to 150,000. The Moos lims, therefore, obtain by far the greatest share of the author's notice, although the Turks, the Jews, the Greeks, &c. of Egypt do not escape him. It is clear, however, that the inhabitants of the country as a body have been, and are, as respects customs, manners, and character, very much influenced by the same peculiar physical

phenomena that prevail there: perhaps in no other regions have these influences been so visibly exemplified. But we need not here give any summary of them; let us direct ourselves to some more special matters, as developed and explained by the author.

Passing over Mr. Lane's Introduction about the Country and Climate-Metropolis-Houses-and Population of Egypt, we have his first chapter concerning the Personal Characteristics and Dress of the Moos lims. Under this head, we cite some particulars regarding the seal-ring which the men wear, and the beauty of the

women.

"On the little finger of the right hand is worn a seal-ring (kha'tim), which is generally of silver, with a cornelian, or other stone, upon which is engraved the wearer's name: the name is accompanied by the words his servant' (signifying the servant, or worshipper of God'), and often by other words expressive of the person's trust in God, &c. The Prophet disapproved of gold; therefore few Moos'lims wear gold rings; but the women have various ornaments (rings, bracelets, &c.) of that precious metal. The seal-ring is used for signing letters and other writings; and its impression is considered more valid than the sign-manual. A little ink is daubed upon it with one of the fingers, and it is pressed upon the paper -the person who uses it having first touched his tongue with another finger, and moistened the place in the paper which is to be stamped. Almost every person who can afford it, has a seal-ring, even through he be a servant. The regular scribes, literary men, and many others, wear a silver, brass, or copper dawa yeh, which is a case with receptacles for ink and pens, stuck in the girdle. Some have, in the place of this, or in addition to it, a caseknife, or a dagger.

"The general form and features of the women must now be described. From the age of about fourteen to that of eighteen or twenty, they are generally models of beauty in body and limbs; and in countenance most of them are pleasing, and many exceedingly lovely; but soon after they have attained their perfect growth, they rapidly decline; the bosom early loses all its beauty, acquiring, from the relaxing nature of the climate, an excessive length and flatness in its forms, even while the face retains its full charms; and though, in most other respects, time does not commonly so soon nor so much deform them, at the age of forty it renders many who in earlier years possessed considerable attractions absolutely ugly. In the Egyptian females the forms of womanhood begin to develop themselves about the ninth or tenth year: at the age of fifteen or sixteen they generally attain their highest degree of perfection. With regard to their complexions, the same remarks apply to them as to the men, with only this difference, that their faces, being generally veiled when they go abroad, are not quite se much tanned as those of the men. They are characterized, like the men, by a fine oval countenance; though, in some instances, it is rather broad. The eyes, with very few exceptions, are black, large, and of a long almond-form, with long and beautiful lashes and an exquisitely soft, bewitching expression: eyes more beautiful can hardly be conceived: their charming effect is much heightened by the concealment of the other features (however pleasing the latter may be), and is rendered still more striking by