chary of revelation, when we cannot conceive that there remain serious causes for delicacy. However, the admirers of genius and patriotic virtue will be grateful for what they have got; and when the Ten Volumes are completed they will be prized, and for ages, in a manner, we anticipate, to exceed the author's fondest anticipations.

ART. III.-Egypt and Mohammed Ali. Illustrations of the Condition of his Slaves and Subjects, &c. By R. R. MADDEN, M.D. Hamilton and Co. 1841.

THIS volume consists of a series of letters written for the Morning Chronicle, in which newspaper they have already appeared, and therefore there is no necessity for according to them any very considerable space in our pages; especially when finding that the parts of the work which would otherwise most deeply interest the reader belong to personal sketches of the Pasha, but which have been frequently retailed of late years, till they have become generally current. To be sure Dr. Madden, who is a practised writer of books of travel, extends his remarks as well as descriptions to a variety of important points, such as the military establishment of Mohammed, the nature and results of his government, notices of his revenue, slavery in the Turkish empire and in Egypt, together with other statistical and political matters, the author bestowing some observations upon the persecution of the Jews at Damascus, and also the views of France in the East.

The Doctor's account, although we cannot place entire reliance upon it, either as being the result of careful and close examination, or as free from the colouring natural to one, who was writing for a ministerial journal, at a time when it was deemed needful to produce strong impressions, represents the Pasha's policy and prospects in a way far from flattering, or from promising lasting benefits to his family, or the country he rules. His exactions are characterized as being ruinous, while his revenue must become unequal to the expenditure required by his system. At the same time he takes care to be the great gainer by his more enlightened introductions, say, of a commercial nature; these improvements, however, being in an abstract sense, il contrived for the people he governs. Then what if his iron sway should outlast the resources of the people? or what if Ibrahim should pre-decease his father? The consequences Dr. Madden seems to think would be commotion and distraction, which would prove most disastrous to the nation, and most inimical to the progress of its civilization.

The Doctor has been heretofore employed in the West Indies relative to emancipation; and one of his main objects in Egypt appears to have been to persuade or influence the Pasha to the

work of abolishing the slave-trade carried on under that ruler's auspices. There is in the volume an account of an expedition which invaded Nubia for the purpose of capturing slaves that deserves attention. Having indicated these things we shall now quote a few notices of the Pasha, his habits, and his state.

"Mohammed Ali is now in his seventy-second year. He is hale and strong in his appearance, somewhat bent by age; but the energy of his mind, the vivacity of his features, and the piercing lightning of his glance, have undergone no change since I first saw him in the year 1825, nearly fifteen years ago. He is about five feet six inches in height, of a ruddy fair complexion, with light hazel eyes, deeply set in their sockets, and overshadowed by prominent eyebrows. His lips are thin, his features regular, extremely changeful, yet altogether agreeable in their expression when he is in good humour. At such times, his countenance is that of a frank, amiable, and highly intelligent person. The motion of his hands and his gestures in conversation are those of a well-bred person, and his manners are easy and even dignified. He perambulates his rooms a great deal when he is at all disturbed, with his hands behind his back, and thinks aloud on those occasions. He sleeps but little, and seldom soundly: he is said by his physicians to be subject to a determination of blood to the head, attended with epileptic symptoms, which recur with violence when he is under any unusual excitement. In the late difficulties, previous to his answering the proposal of the Four Powers, these symptoms made it necessary for his physicians to bleed him in the arm and take away a pound of blood. of these physicians had to sit up with him for some nights; and, as it is customary for the Pasha to do with his attendants, he called up the doctor several times in the night, to tell him something,' and the poor drowsy physician was frequently woke up with the habitual query, 'Well, doctor, have you nothing to tell me?'

One

"His palace at Alexandria is elegantly furnished, in the European style, with chairs and tables, looking-glasses, several pictures, and a large bust of the Viceroy himself. I noticed a magnificent four-post bed in his sleepingchamber both the attendants who conducted me over the palace informed me it never had been used: he continues the old Turkish habit of sleeping on a mattress on the floor. He rises early-generally between four and five receives every one who comes to him; dictates to his secretaries; and has the English and French newspapers translated and read to him: one of the latter of which is known to be the paid organ of his political views.

He

"His only language is the Turkish; and he speaks it with the greatest fluency, and in the most impressive manner. In his conversation he is sprightly, courteous, and intelligent. On every subject he gives those about him the impression of a shrewd, penetrating, right-thinking man. speaks very distinctly, (thanks to the effects of English dentistry,) and with remarkable precision, He is simple in his mode of living, eats after the European manner at table, and takes his bottle of claret almost daily. His manners are extremely pleasing, and his general appearance prepossessing: his expression, as I have before said, is that of a good humoured, amiable man; but when he is disturbed in his mind, he seems not to have the

slightest control over his feelings or over his features; and when he is displeased, his scowl is what no man would willingly encounter twice. A medical friend of mine who had the entré of the palace, and had occasion to visit him at a very early hour the morning after the arrival of the Turkish fleet, which had just fallen into his power, found him at the dawn alone in his apartment, stationed at the window gazing on those vessels which were destined for the destruction of his Syrian fleet, and which were now quietly ' reposing on their shadows' in his own harbour at Alexandria; and, as he gazed on them, very earnestly talking to himself, as if deeply engaged in conversation."

Dr. Madden's story goes to acquit Mohammed of the persecution of the Jews; it also leads us to regard him as a lax believer in the religion of the prophet :

"His own sagacity may have led him to perceive the defects of the Mahommedan religion; but it is more than probable, that without the counsel and example of these men, [foreigners,] his policy would have led to his imposing himself on his people for a sincere believer in their faith; and he would have been a strict observer of the outward rites and forms of his religion, for that reason alone. As it is, he makes no pretensions to devotion. On two occasions recently, when I have had interviews with him, in company with Sir Moses Montefiore, at the Magreb or evening hour of prayer, all the soldiers, officers, servants, and attendants of the palace, were assembled at their devotion in the large antichamber leading into his receptionroom, with all the pomp and state of Oriental devotion. The devout Mussulmen were ranged in rows in front of the Imam, and a person duly appointed to perform the service chanted certain passages of the Koran and forms of prayers in a full sonorous voice, that echoed through the spacious rooms of the palace.

"The various prostrations of those assembled, their simultaneous movements and accents, and the deep solemnity of the look and manner of every individual engaged in prayer, had a very touching effect: but in the midst of all this solemnity, on one occasion the Pasha made his appearance from his own apartment, walked across the hall, took no notice whatever of those assembled at prayer, but seeing Sir Moses Montefiore and myself and two other gentlemen standing in a corner, he said, in a loud, good-humoured tone, beckoning with his hand, 'Guel, guel' (Come in, come in); and we had to follow him into his grand saloon, to the manifest disturbance of all those employed in prayer."

The Pasha's enforcement of reverence to him by his sons takes what in the west we would consider whimsical and inconsistent forms :

"Mohammed Ali, a remarkably fine little boy of about nine years of age, is the fifth, and youngest, and a favourite son of the old Pasha. It is singular to see this little fellow with his father: he is permitted to take all sorts of liberties with him; and the contrast of this freedom is very striking

compared with the solemn, formal nature of the interviews of Seid Bey, and even Ibrahim Pasha with his father. The Pasha, amidst all the reforms he has introduced, has thought proper to leave untouched the old habit of exacting the most profound submission from his grown-up children. When Seid Bey, who as yet resides in the palace of the women, or the harem of the Pasha, pays his weekly visit every Friday to his father, he enters the reception-hall with his eyes downcast, his arms folded, and dares not walk up straight to his father's presence, but makes the circuit of the divan slowly and abashed, and at length stops at a respectful distance before the Pasha, approaches and kisses the hem of his garment, retires modestly, and stands again with folded arms and downcast looks: after an interval of two or three minutes, the Pasha salutes him, beckons him to his side, and then he is permitted to talk to his august father. Strange to say, Ibrahim Pasha, old as he is, and with all his houours, goes through the same formal scene at every public interview, on each return of his from the army to Cairo or Alexandria."

We close our brief notice of the Doctor's volume, with an extract from an American work, being a narrative of a voyage around the world by an officer of the United State's navy, relative to a tribe of slaves at Rio Janeiro, seeing that the passage has more precision in it, and points to more serious results than anything which we have discovered in the pages from which we have just been quoting in reference to the negroes. The officer is speaking of a class known by the name of Minas, and says,—

"Of this class of slaves, both the men and women are remarkably stub born, impatient and proud, but industrious and very aspiring. So proud they are, that it is said they will rather suffer death than endure any undue castigation. Many of them have been known to kill themselves when imprisoned, and deprived of other means, by turning inward the end of the tongue in such a manner, as to choke themselves to death. One instance occurred not long before our arrival. A stern Mina slave had been threatened with a severe punishment, and managed to attempt his escape into the water. He had proceeded far out towards a resting place, before he was discovered and nearly overtaken by the boat of his pursuers. He then immediately plunged beneath the waves and endeavoured to hold himself beneath by a rock, till death might release him; two or three times his hold was disengaged, by the prying oars of those above him, and as often he regained it; but when nearly drowned, his strength relaxed, and he was taken to the shore to suffer his tortures in aggravated degrees. It is from this class of slaves, that many rise to freedom and prosperity, and their young successors are the principal guards of the empire."

We are always prompt to invite attention to any novel or very remarkable circumstance in the history of slavery; and the passage now quoted is calculated to awaken speculation, and to engage the humane reader.

1. Choral Psalmody. By F. A. HEAD.

2. Elements of Electro-Metallurgy. By ALFRED SMEE. London: Longman.

3. The Tudor Library of Illustrated British Classics. The Spectator, Parts I. to V. Illustrated in Acrography. London: Effingham Wilson. WE propose in this paper to call the attention of our readers to some of the more striking facts connected with the present condition and prospects of several of the mechanical as well as of the fine arts, great changes and revolutions being at this moment in progress in these departments, just as in social and public matters. Indeed, it is impossible to disjoin the transition in any one branch of art, trade, or intellectual speculation, from a corresponding movement in the general feelings and modes of thinking of the community. Progression in one sphere may precede development in another; but the relationship is inseparable between all the principles of sentiment, action and enterprise; just as the interests of every one class of a nation depend upon, or are combined with, the well-being of all the other classes. We are taking it for granted that the transition will be that of advancement, not that of retrogression; and that according to the nature of things as well as the spirit of the age, mankind are not to stand still, but every day proceed to achieve new conquests towards the ennobling of the species and the greater happiness of all. No doubt we are forced often to witness fallings back as well as departures from the onward and straight line; just as we have frequently to lament that particular classes become severe sufferers when any great and sudden bound is made in discovery and national prosperity. Nevertheless we feel assured that with all the questionable innovations, or the futile experiments that are made in science or art of any kind, the general result is profitable teaching, and accelerated improvement, so as to neutralize, yea, and to turn to manifest advantage, the temporary error aad backward step. We proceed to illustrate our views by adducing some facts in the recent and present condition of music amongst us.

Many of our readers must be aware, that the Cathedral Service of the Church of England has received of late a heavy blow in consequence of its parliamentary abolition, or abridgment at least ; brought about too at the instance of some of the dignitaries of the Establishment. We are not going to inquire closely what may be the motives of those who have urged the change; nor to pretend that we have fully weighed the expediency of the measure. Still, it can hardly be denied that certain trustees of Church property have profited by an act of spoliation, and pocketed sums which were originally intended for the due and adequate support of Cathedral music. We believe too that the effect of the change has been for