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caufe, with fome others nearly as bafis, and rendered any farther atftrong, they entirely overthrow the tempts to vindicate her unneceffary. falfe accounts hitherto given us of "But the bishop's defence," fays the murder. The next thing done our author, was carefully fupis to proceed to the true account, preffed by the tyranny of the and from the circumftances of this "mafculine queen. The writing, affair, as ftated to us by the bishop of " fubfcribed by the peers of ScotRofs, and from the agreement be- "land, was locked up in the regis tween his teftimony and that of "ter of Mary, and among the pa Camden, a cotemporary author, em- pers in the Cotton library. And ployed under the patronage and 66 as Camden's history of Elizabeth intrufted with the of Cecil papers 66 came not out till near half a cenhimself, we can have very little tury had paffed over the tranfroom to doubt of the murder's hav. " actions, and till the flanders aing been originally planned by gainst Mary had made a deep imMurray and Morton, whofe fecret"preffion upon the yielding faith views in this matter are thus dif. " of the nation, fo it lay long se. clofed to us by Camden :-" Thefe "queftered from the generality of two above all things thought it "readers, by being confined to its beft utterly to alienate the queen's "original Latin." mind from the king, their love In this manner it is to be ac"being not yet well renewed; and counted for, in fome degree, why to draw Bothwell into their fo. the memory of this unfortunate "ciety, who was lately reconciled queen has been fo long ftigmatifed 166 to Murray, and was in with the enormous crimes of which "favour with the queen, putting he has hitherto been fuppofed "him in hope of divorce from his guilty, and from which her prefent "wife and marriage with the zealous advocate feems indeed most 36 as foon as he was a widow. To fully to have exculpated her. The "the performance hereof, and to jonnets, contracts, and letters he has "defend him against all men, they proved in a very fatisfactory manner "bound themselves under their to have been the works of her ene "hands and feals; fuppofing that mies; and from the writings of her "if the matter fucceeded, they enemies themfelves he has detected "could, with one and the fame their views in the forgery. The labour, make away the king, murder of Darnley, of which the weaken the queen's reputation a- has been fo long fuppofed an acmong the nobility and commons, complice, is here plainly difcovered "tread down Bothwell, and draw to have been both planned and exe "unto themselves the whole managing cuted by her molt inveterate foes, """ of the state." fome of whom afterwards, in the And most completely indeed did most awful moments of their lives, they fucceed in their attempts, acquitted her in the molt folemn though the reader will undoubtedly manner of having had any fhare in be amazed, on the review of this it. And, to conclude this account evidence, to find that fuch teftimo. in the author's own words- Thefe nies have not long fince fettled the "confeflions, made (molt of them) reputation of Mary upon a folid "fo openly to the attending multi

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Travels through Egypt and Syria, in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785; by M. C. F. Volney.

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tudes, reported (all of them) fo openly to us at and near the mcment, authenticated by fuch for"mal and dignified atteftations, and afcending upwards through VERY circumftance, however fuch a fcale of witneffes, to fuch minute, concerning Egypt and a couple of leaders, carry a wonSyria, is unquestionably, from the derful weight with them. They memory of their ancient fplendour "were made by men who were all and independence, an object of ra. "but one, actors in the deed of tional curiofity. We need not there"murder. They were made by fore hesitate to recommend a work men, who were attached to Both which, like the prefent, abounds "well particularly. with fuch a variety of new and inThey were "made by men, who were all but terefting matter relating to those one, affociates in the villainy with countries, in the ftrongest manner "Murray, Morton, and Bothwell, to the attention of the reader. "They were made even by Bothfides many ingenious and philofo"well himself. And they were phical obfervations on the climate even made by Morton himfelf. and natural productions, and an in"They were made by all, when terefting account of the customs, "they were awfully standing on the manners, laws, genius, and characfhore and beach of time, ter of the people; it contains a fund of valuable information about "when they were awfully throwing the ftate of their revenues, the na"their eyes across the narrow ocean of death before them, and ture of their military establishment, "when they were penitentially preand the general fyftem of Turkish "paring for their reception in the policy in the government of the "regions of eternity beyond. They provinces dependent on the Otto"thus form an energy of evidence, man empire. It appears to be the even fuperior, I think, if poffible, principal object of the author to lay

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ss to all the constructive teftimonies "of hiftory before. They certain"ly fpeak to the understanding, in countries. With that view he has "conjunction with these, in a voice confined his researches chiefly to "of power, and with a tone of "thunder. And the innocence of those points; and refers his readers "Mary, and the guilt of Murray, he confiders in a great measure as on the fubject of antiquity, which "Moreton, and Bothwell, now ftand

"upon a bafis as firm as the pillars

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"the eye as confpicuous as the arch
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exhaufted, to Norden, Pocock, Nie

buhr, Savary, and other travellers. There is indeed a full and minute account of the ruins of Palmyra and the temple of the fun at Balbec, in that part of the work relating to Syria. But he has allotted no more than one short chapter to the copious fubject of the pyramids, and to the general defcription of all the other

"winds which conftantly occafion "head aches, nor those fwarms of "fcorpions, gnats, and especially "flies, which are fo numerous, "that it is impoffible to eat with. "out running the risk of fwallow. "ing them. Befides, no country "prefents fuch a famenefs of afpect. A boundless naked plain,

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an horizon every where flat and "uniform, date trees with flender "and bare trunks, or mud-walled "huts on the caufeways, are all it "offers to the eye, which no where "beholds that richness of land"fcape, that variety of objects, or "diverfity of fcenery which true "tafe finds fo delightful. The "face of nature there prefents nothing but fat herds, fertile fields, a muddy river, a fea of fresh water, and villages which rifing out of it refemble iflands. Should "the eye reach the horizon, we "are terrified at finding nothing "but favage defarts. The con"traft of this melancholy fcene fo

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other remains of antiquity which abound in every part of Egypt.-In the plan and execution of the work, Monf. Volney has differed from the generality of writers of travels. He has rejected the ufual form of an itinerary as too prolix, and has claffed all his obfervations under fe. parate chapters, according to the nature of the fubject. He has like. wife ftudioufly avoided the impertinence of perfonal anecdotes, and profeffes to have repreffed with care every difpofition to exaggeration and embellishment. It appears that he was anticipated in his account of Egypt by Monf. Savary, from whom he differs in many effential points. The general afpect of the country. which Monf. Savary has defcribed as fo picturefque and beautiful, will prefent, in the account given by our author, a very different idea to the imagination of the reader: "If," fays Monf. Volney, "he figures to him"felf a flat plain, interfected by canals, under water during three months, marthy and rank with near, has given to the cultivated vegetation for three others, and "fields of Egypt all their charms." dufty and parched the remainder The fecond and third chapters conof the year; if he imagines a tain a long difcuffion of Monf., Sanumber of wretched mud-walled vary's opinion refpecting the enand brick villages, naked and largement and the rife of the Delta. fun-burnt peafants, buffaloes, caOur author contends that the promels, fycamore and date trees grefs in the enlargement of the thinly fcattered, lakes, cultivated Delta could not have been fo rapid fields, and vacant grounds of as Monf. Savary had imagined. "confiderable extent; and adds, In the courfe of his argument, in befides, a fun darting his rays which he difplays very acute rea"from an azure ky, almoft inva-, foning and confiderable learning, "riably free from clouds, and "winds conttantly blowing, though not always with the fame force, "he will form a tolerably juft idea "of the natural appearance of this 68 country. I cannot be reconciled," he continues," to the peftiferous

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fouthern blaft, the north-east.

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he detects a falfe quotation from Strabo, with which Monf, Savary had fupported his fyftem; and likewife gives the true explanation of a paffage in Homer, which the other had mistaken. He then concludes by obferving, "that it would still remain to be explained, why the O 3

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"fhore, which is fuppofed to have "gained eleven leagues from the "time of Menelaus to Alexander, "fhould not have gained more "than half a league during the "much longer period from the "time of Alexander to the prefent "day." The mistake of Monf. Savary as to the rife of the Delta, was occafioned by his not adverting to the circumftance of the alterations that have been made in the NilomeIt was not the Nile, Monf. Volney afferts, but the column and measures that have varied. We muft now refer our readers to feve ral extracts from this work, which he will find in different parts of this volume; to the hiftory of Ali Bey, page 15 (Characters); to an account of the winds in Egypt, and their phænomena, page 56 (Natural Hiftory); and to the account of the Mamlouks, page 137 (Mifcellaneous Effays). We come now to the account of the inhabitants. Egypt affords the fingular spectacle of four diftinct races of men, completely feparated from each other by religious and political prejo dices, and continuing to preferve their original characters perfectly diftinct and unblended, though liv. ing in the fame climate, in the fame country, and under the fame government. This part of the work is particularly curious and interefting. The first, and molt generally difperfed of the four races, is that of the Arabs; of thefe there are three claffes; first, the pofterity of the ancient conquerors of the country who fettled principally in the Delta, and are found in the prefent clafs of Fellaks, or hufbandmen and artizans: the fecond is that of the Africans or Occidentals, who are defcended from the Arabian

conquerors of Mauritania, and arrived in Egypt at different times, and under different chiefs; like the former they exercise trades and agriculture, they are moft numerous in the Said, where they have villages and even diftinct fovereigns of their own; the third class is that of the Bedouins, or inhabitants of the defarts. Pacific in their camp, they are every where elfe in an habitual ftate of war; the husbandmen, whom they pillage, hate them; the tra vellers, whom they plunder, fpeak ill of them; and the Turks, who dread them, endeavour to divide and corrupt them. It is calculated that the different tribes of them might form a body of 30,000 horfe men; but they are fo difperfed and difunited, that they are only confidered as robbers and vagabonds.— The fecond race of inhabitants, are the Copts. They are difperfed all over the country, though greater numbers are found in the Said. They are the defcendants of the people who were conquered by the Arabs, that is, a mixture of Egyptians, Perfians, and above all Greeks, who under the Ptolemies and Conftantines were fo long in poffeffion of Egypt. They are all Chriftians. Monf. Volney conceives the Arabic word Kobti a Copt, to be an abbreviation of the Greek word Ai-gouptios. Under the name of writers, the Copts are at Cairo fhe intendants, fecretaries, and collectors of government. Thefe writers, defpifed by the Turks, whom they ferve, and hated by the pealants, whom they opprefs, form a kind of feparate clafs, the head of which is the writer of the principal Bey.—The third race are the Turks, who are mafters of the country, or at least poffefs that title. They are not fettled

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much among the villages. Individuals of that race are rarely met with except at Cairo, where they exercife the arts, and occupy the religious and military employments. For merly they were alfo advanced to pofts under government, but within the last thirty years a tacit revolution has taken place, which, with out taking from them the title, has deprived them of the reality of power. This revolution has been effected by the fourth and laft race, the Mamlouks.-The individuals of this race, all born at the foot of Mount Caucafus, are diftinguifhed from the other inhabitants by the flaxen colour of their hair, which is entirely different from that of the natives of Egypt. The reader will find a full account of this extraordinary race of men in this volume, page 137 (Mifcellaneous Effays). During five hundred and fifty years that there have been Mamlouks in Egypt, not one has left fubfifting iffue; there does not exift one fingle family of them in the fecond generation; all their children perish in the first or fecond defcent. Almost the fame thing happens to the Turks; and it is obferved, that they can only fecure the continuance of their families, by marrying women who are natives, which the Mamlouks have always difdained, "Let the naturalift," ,"exclaims Monf. Volney, explain why men well form"ed, and married to healthy wo. "" men, are unable to naturalize on "the banks of the Nile, a race "born at the foot of Mount Cau"cafus! and let it be remembered

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at the fame time, that the plants "of Europe in that country are 66 equally unable to continue their " fpecies !"

The important queftion refpecting

the practicability of forming a junc tion between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, by means of a canal cut throngh the ifthmus of Suez, which has been fo frequently dif cuffed, could not escape the notice of fo fagacious a traveller as Monf. Volney. The utter impracticabi lity of the fcheme is clearly shewn by the following remark, formed on his actual obfervation of the nature and fituation of the correfponding coafts," which are of a low and "fandy foil, where the waters form "fhoals and moraffes, fo that vef"fels cannot approach within a con"fiderable diftance. It will there"fore be found fcarcely poffible to << dig a permanent canal amid thefe "fhifting fands; not to mention "that the fhore is deftitute of har "bours, which must be entirely "the work of art. The country " befides has not a drop of fresh "" water; and to fupply the inha"bitants, it must be brought as far "" as from the Nile."-Monf. Volney fuppofes the number of inhabit, ants in Egypt to be 2,300,000.

We come now to the account of Syria, which takes up the remainder of the first and the whole of the fecond volume. It is by far the beft and most accurate account of that country, which has appeared in any modern publication. [For the natural hiftory of Syria we must refer to page 60 of this volume.] The reader will form a tolerably correct notion of the general appearance of this country and of the climate from the following extracts.

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"Syria

may be confidered as a country "compofed of three long ftrips of "land of different qualities: one of "them extending along the Me"diterranean, is a warm, humid "valley, the healthiness of which

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