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this fole purpose patroled the beach, came up, and having obferved the bodies, made a fignal to others on foot among the bufhes. Several of of them came down and immediately began to dig a hole in the fand, into which they dragged the dead. I. 147-149.

All this poffeffed fomething of the terrible. But in Cadiz, the confequences, though equally apparent, were of a very different nature. Ten days after the battle, they were ftill employed in bringing afhore the wounded; and fpectacles were hourly difplayed at the wharfs and through the streets fufficient to fhock every heart not yet hardened to fcenes of blood and human fufferings. When by the carelessness of the boatmen, and the furging of the fea, the boats ftruck against the ftone piers, a horrid cry which pierced the foul arofe from the mangled wretches on board. Many of the Spanish gentry affifted in bringing them afhore, with fymptoms of much compaffion; yet as they were finely dreffed, it had fomething of the appearance of oftentation, if there could be oflentation at fuch a moment. It need not be doubted that an Englishman lent a willing hand to bear them up the fteps to their litters; yet the flightest falfe ftep made them fhriek out, and I even yet fhudder at the remembrance of the found. On the tops of the pier the fcene was affecting. The wounded were carrying away to the hofpitals in every fhape of human mifery, whilft crowds of Spaniards either affifted, or looked on with figns of horror. Meanwhile their companions who had escaped unhurt, walked up and down with folded arms and downcaft eyes, whilft women fat upon heaps of arms, broken furniture and baggage, with their heads bent between their knees. I had no inclination to follow the litters of the wounded; yet I learned that every hospital in Cadiz was already full, and that convents and churches were forced to be appropriated to the reception of the remainder. If, leaving the harbour, I paffed through the town to the point, I ftill beheld the terrible effects of the battle. As far as the eye could reach, the fandy fide of the Ifthmus, bordering on the Atlantic, was covered with mafts and yards, the wrecks of fhips, and here and there the bodies of the dead. Among others I noticed a topmaft marked with the name of the Swiftfure, and the broad arrow of England, which only increased my anxiety to know how far the English had fuffered; the Spaniards ftill continuing to affirm that they have loft their chief admiral and half their fleet. While furrounded by thefe wrecks, I mounted on the cross-trees of a malt which had been thrown afhore, and, cafting my eyes over the ocean, beheld, at a great distance, several mafts and portions of wreck ftill floating about. As the fea was now almoft calm, with a flight fwell, the effect produced by thefe objects had in it fomething of a fublime melancholy, and touched the foul with a remembrance of the fad viciffitudes of human affairs. The portions of floating wreck were vifible from the ramparts; yet not a boit dared to venture out to examine or endeavour to tow them in, fuch was the apprehenfions which ftill filled their minds, of the enemy.

Finally, it was interefting, although in a different point of view from any that I have hitherto touched on, to obferve the different ef.

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fect produced on the Spaniards and French by a common calamity. The Spaniard, more than ufually grave and fedate, plunged into a profound melancholy, feemed to ftruggle with himself whether he fhould feek within his foul fresh resources against unwilling enemies, or turn his rage againft his perfidious allies. The French, on the contrary, were now beginning to mingle threats and indecent oaths with thofe occafional fits of melancholy, which repeated and repeated proofs of defeat ftill continued to prefs upon them, as it were, in fpite of their endeavours to the contrary. Not one of them but would tell you, that if every fhip had fought like his, the Englith would have been utterly, defeated. I. 154-158.

From Algeciras Mr Semple went to Leghorn by sea, and from thence to Rome and Naples, with a vettorino. The slowness of this mode of travelling gives him ample opportunity of describing the interesting country through which he passed; and he does this, in general, with great success, and in a style abundantly lively, without being florid or romantic. We would only hint to him, that his emotions upon seeing the mass of basaltes near Bolsena, are rather more violent than the occasion required. It was impossible,' he says, to contemplate it without interest; and, reflecting on the violent disputes which had arisen among learned men, concerning the origin of similar phenomena, I ran to the side of the hill. I scrambled over the broken fragments which were scattered about, and being alone, embraced those which stood upright, as if I could thereby arrive at the secret of their formation. As he received several severe falls,' we shall not chide him any further for being, though obviously unacquainted with the science, a good deal more ravished by this sight than would have been quite decorous in a zealous Huttonian. We must also suggest the propriety of giving common names, as customhouse, and inn, rather in English than in good Italian; but, at any rate, not in bad Italian, (Vol. II. p. 4.); and would just whisper, that an author who frequently quotes Latin, ought not to have translated Virgo Dei-para, the Virgin equal with God, (Ibid. p. 54.)

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In the road to Naples, French troops were constantly seen; and at Mola di Gaeta the siege was going on. The country, too, was much infested with brigands, who attacked the French, and killed both the stragglers from the army and the Frenchmen travelling there, as often as they could catch them in small parties, or off their guard. In the vicinity of Naples, assassinations were so frequent, that the French officers did not venture out to any distance from their quarters; and insurrections were so constantly apprehended, that King Joseph's palace, to which also the public offices had been removed, was surrounded with loaded artillery,

artillery, lighted matches, and troops in battle array. Our author is too sensible a man to flatter the hopes and prejudices of his readers, by drawing from these anecdotes any inference unfavourable to the stability of the new government. He must have reflected, that if such precautions show the existence of danger, they also give us reason to conclude, that they who were exposed to it were well prepared for it, and likely to succeed in removing

it.

Mr Semple pursued his voyage from Naples to Messina, and from thence coasted along Sicily, making little excursions into the country. He then went over to Malta, and proceeded to Smyrna, after visiting several of the most remarkable places in the Archipelago. His account of Milo is in every respect the most interesting, and greatly strengthens the reasons which have long since pointed out that island, as the station best adapted for securing a superiority in those seas, and preventing the enemy from making an impression on Egypt. Its length is from ten to twelve miles; its breadth six or seven. The harbour is indented so deep into the land, as to cut it into two divisions, joined by an isthmus a mile broad. This harbour is four miles in diameter, nearly circular, with a sandy bottom, twenty or twenty-five fathom not far from shore, capable of sheltering an innumerable navy, having on each side very high and steep ground, and such an entrance, as to be at once most easily defended from an enemy, and accessible at all times to ships bound either up or down the Mediterranean.

Our author's refidence at Smyrna gives him an opportunity of defcribing the amufements of the Turks.

A large oak fpreads its branches over the principal fpring, and now and then a Turk may be feen fmoking in ignorant happiness under its fhade. It is indeed, even at prefent, and might be rendered still more, a fpot particularly calculated for the luxuries of a warm climate, affording gufhing fprings, the fhade of trees, and a pure running ftream. But who will fpeculate under a government where there is no fecurity either for life or property? The Turks are very partial to fuch spots; but their indolence ftops them about a mile and a half nearer to the town, on the fame road, where a kind of coffee-garden attracts great numbers every evening. It is nothing more than a fhort walk, formed by two rows of trees, upon the borders of the Meles, once facred to Homer, but now a small brook, which is here dammed across, so as to collect the water to the width of fix or eight yards. On the oppofite fide of the brook is a large burying ground, full of tomb-ftones and tall cypreffes; and an old bridge of a fingle arcb, over which runs the public road, completes the fcenery of this Smyrnean paradife. Under the fhade of thefe trees, and on the border of this puddle, Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, and Franks, unroll their mats, fold their legs under

them,

them, like the camel, and give themselves up to the reveries of coffee and tobacco. To enliven the scene, tellers of stories resort hither, and with ludicrous geftures and grimaces cheat the grave Turks into a fmile, raifing their ponderous mustachios as it were in spite of them. To imitate the ftaggering and ftuttering of a drunken man is a never failing fource of merriment, which is fometimes changed for the fhriller voice and the gait of a woman, or the crying of a child. Having finished the tale, they beat a little tambourine, and go round the audience, like the flave of Ali Baba, collecting in it the paras (a fmall coin), which if their story has been well told are liberally beftowed. The reprefentation of human life and manners will always be interefting to man; and the tage is founded on principles and feelings common to all nations. Where laws or fuperftitions interfere to prevent a clofe reprefentation, men will fill make as near approaches as poffible. The relators of ftories are the actors of the Turks, and coffee-houfes are their theatres. Caravan Bridge is the theatre of Smyrna; and Ariftotle himself, were he to rife from the dead, could not criticife the unity of the scene which, whether it be tragedy or comedy, a battle or a marriage, the fighing of a defpairing lover, or the roarings of a drunken Frank, is ever and ftill the fame, a pond, a one arched bridge, and a burying ground. ' II. 203-206.

Immediately after this, however, which is not badly executed, follows one of the sentimental flights in which Mr Semple now and then indulges. He falls into a melancholy musing, about the degraded state of man in those fine countries, and bemoans his own lot, in being quite unable to relieve the species. So far it is well and natural enough; but he proceeds to drown his sorrows in wine, and actually gets drunk before his readers, after the following manner. I will be a Greek,' he cries, and as I see no Turk near me, I will bury all my woes in momentary oblivion.'' Adieu! (continues he,) dreams for the happiness of my brother men, why should they make me unhappy? Give me wine, that I may forget my wretchedness.' As the wine mounts up, its effects begin to be apparent, and he calls aloud for more. Give me wine, whether it be of Scio or Mytelene, that I may plunge into delirious joy,' &c. &c. If we had not given our readers specimens of Mr Semple's sober productions, they would be inclined, from this exposure, to question the justice of ⚫ the commendations which we bestow upon his book. It is, however, fair to add, that, whether from sleep, or from drinking deeper, he very soon becomes sobered again,' and delivers, at some length, an excellent character of the Turks and Grecks. As this is really a sketch of considerable merit, we shall conclude our extracts by giving a part of it.

. If two flout Greeks be fighting in the street, a Turk comes between them, pufhes each a different way; and adds kicks and blows, fhould they ftill linger near cach other. They look upon the life of an

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Infidel

Infidel as of little more value than that of a brute; and indeed do not feem to effimate their own at a very high rate. They have fome traits of the true military character; are fond of horfes and arms; and detet the fea. They delight in the po p, and noife, and glitter, of war; and they can blind themfelves for a fhort time in the hour of battle to its dangers; but its inceffant fatigues foon difhearten them; and although they infult the Chriftians at Conftantinople and Smyrna, they have learnt to tremble before them on the banks of the Danube, and the borders of the Euxine. This, then, betrays the whole fecret of their haughtiness. It is founded on the conquests of their remote anceftors, not on their own tried ftrength.

In a word, deluded by the femblance of war, and really enervated by lon, habits of peace, and by a religion, the rewards of which are entirely fenfual, the Turk is willing to have a foretafte in this world of the cooling fhades, the pure running ftreams, the foft flumbers, and the Houris of Paradife. Tents adorned with fringes, horfes gaily caparifoned, and fplendid arms, ferve only to wake him gently from these luxurious dreams, that he may fall to flumber again with a better relish, and dream that he is a foldier. So much of war as confifts in that, he does not diflike. But long and tedious marches, painful wounds, above all, the profound ftudy and fcience of war, are wholly unfuited to his temper, at once impetuous and indolent. Where it is poffible by a fingle violent exertion to obtain his end, the Turk may fucceed; but difappointed in that firft effort, he retires like the tyger who has miffed his fpring, and requires a long interval of repose to recruit his scattered ferocity.

• The radical and incurable defects of the Turkish character proceed in my opinion from their religion. All attempts of a legiflature to define exactly, not merely what is vice and what is virtue, but also the daily and hourly duties of the man and the citizen, may form a peculiar and feparate people, a nation of Jews or of Turks; but, once formed, that nation remains for ever incapable of improvement. Such is the defect of the Koran. Its fimple precepts, its ftrict prohibitions, were well calculated to bind together the wandering tribes of the Defert, but become too minute in fome inftances, and too defultory in others, when confidered as the fole code of laws for an immenfe empire. Swathing clothes may irengthen the child, but, if not timely removed, effectually prevent its becoming a man. Mohanmed fixed at once the moral limits of his people. He fketched no faint outline; but, on the contrary, marked it with fo ftrong a hand, that the line of diftinction is for ever drawn, not merely between the Turk and the Christian, but between the Turk and the philofopher. It is impoffible to be a true Muffulman and a lover and cultivator of thofe arts and fciences which adorn and exalt mankind. The Koran must be laid afide before the fources of real knowledge can be opened. The Englishman, the Gaul, the German, and the Ruffian, may each preferve the characteristic manners and customs of his country, and be a Chriftian; but the Jew or the Turk must be absolutely the fame in all climates.' II. p. 214–217.

The

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