worship several gods without representations as they had worshipped one without an image. Then it should appear that polytheism does not essentially involve or necessarily introduce idolatry, for if the polytheism were of the heavenly bodies, they were visible and needed not to be represented; and if it were the multiplication of spiritual agencies, they might be worshipped invisibly as the one creator had been. But there may be, and there clearly is, in the minds of unenlightened savages, a monotheistic practice with a polytheistie creed; that is, they have a belief that many gods exist, but that one only rules over one region. They, therefore, worship one, believing in many. Now the grossness of the uncultivated mind would not be able to apprehend an invisible local deity; and in the open and cultivated or daily traversed land he would see that his god is not. Consequently his deity dwells on the cloudy summit of an inaccessible mountain, or in the dark recesses of a forest. History, especially sacred history, bears abundant testimony to the fact, that hills and groves were favoured seats of unhallowed and idolatrous worship. There is no necessity even to an uncultivated mind that the deity should be actually seen, for there is a difference between an invisible and an unseen deity. If sacrifice be offered

at the foot of a hill, and if the top of the hill be surrounded with clouds, the worshipper may easily imagine that the god to whom his sacrifice is offered keeps his visible form enshrined among those clouds; and so in like manner amidst the darknesses of the forest there may be concealed a visible and actual deity within scent of the sacrifice or within hearing of the prayer. The ignorant worshipper does not see that his god is in the grove or on the hill; but he does see that he is not upon the plain. But there may peradventure spring up in the mind a thought that this deity should be occasionally seen, and it becomes of course the policy of the priest to exhibit the god to his half-doubting worshipper. This may be, and probably has been done in various modes, sometimes a boa constrictor may answer the purpose, sometimes a quadruped, and sometimes a biped, in the person of the priest himself properly disguised. For we must suppose, for the first apprehension and reception of visible, and local, and limited deities, a state of society not sufficiently advanced to be capable of any tolerable approach to painting or sculpture. The idolaters may change their seat, and leave their groves and high hills, and find no parallel in a new region; but the priests cannot spare the god, and thence arises the construction of a temple, which is a species of artificial grove, and forms a fit residence for the unseen but not invisible deity; and there, in the penetralia, the priest antecedently to sculpture may personate the deity. But in process of time, in most regions of idolatry, the living priest grew weary of this mode of exhibiting himself, and an image was substituted. As the temple idolaters were in a stage of civilization advanced before the grove and hill idolaters, their mode became general; and in Athens we see that in a very advanced period of idolatry, when all the world knew that the statues which men made were not gods, it was supposed that the Jupiter, who was represented by the chisel of Phidias, had his residence in Mount Olympus. W. P. S.

-sero

I look among my spirits' music
For a song of the ancient days.
Thou of Pella, like a leaf
Of the laurel in its sheaf

bouts of 9.06 od sou boel Fasten yhab to bruss

Of hope, my heart hath bound thee,wate
With familiar faces round thee;

Loot of a Nested nightingale of time,

My bosom listeneth to thy chime,
Like the harvest-bird at night,
Singing in the darkening light.
Dreamer of melodies-thy hymn
Falls like a faintness on mine eye,
The cheek of the Grecian girl is dim,

odil me base Her fair feet sing not by:
oldiely & home Hush I hear a trembling tread,

Lingering round a shrouded bed;

ovory suit ni et h. By the curtain's cloudy screening,
I see a gentle maiden leaning;
the heart beat peacefully!
Her hand among the clothes, to see

If

II.

Doth thy sister's face grow cold,
Is her tale of gladness told?
Hushing, bird-like, down she sitteth,
While the lantern's dark light flitteth,
Like an angel's gleamy breath
Upon the pillowing-place of death.
She holdeth in her hand a book,
On its page she doth not look;
Softly o'er the face she leaneth,
Her memory goeth forth and gleaneth
From her childhood home of flowers,
Where the lamp of beauty burneth-
Full of tears from its early hours
Her spirits' eye returneth!

They were sisters, from an isle

30

That darkleth on the Grecian sea,

A home of sweetness, where a smile
Dwelleth everlastingly.

40

They were orphans in the dayt

When the heart forgat her lay,

+ The Plague of Athens.

7

* Euripides.

6

།

And in Athens' templed street

No sound was heard of festive feet;

The voice of song no more was flowing,
The ivy round the lute was growing:

In that hour of grief and tears,

Their mother's cheek grew pale with fears,

Her hours of joy were numbered:

Ere the evening came, her hand

Had fallen from their head.

III.

Thy face is lovely, Grecian girl,

50

N

egasus ati And the myrtle round thy curlo exelusineq gaiwollot sdT yd qu awab Its fragrant leaves is fondly twining;129.91892 sdt ni

nois Thy flower-hid cheek is shining us adus 10easlor¶ bass! blood? With the bloom of hope, thine eyebivib at noitellos adT ios III eob Is full of peace and poetry. siano lo squid out to enios II quid ons to end Thy feet are silent-oftentimerthoght to siano to zgnid odt To the cittern's mirthful chime, da to viesmyb sdt to siars art and not Their voice of joy at night hath sounded, no 915 01960 .I ) 884 H.A And thy laughing heart hath boundedasitizontus aitamaimun miennyb Hebe-Lyra of the spirit,ous198 to nios sai (¿eoI PleoMortito By thy voice my heart is fann'd, slit buong ads are doidw nose sganion And my bosom's music wakethmotanodised to eli motosborAt the magic of thy hand.bstantia nwot s dawA need evad oni It is midnight-you might hear layovsiq asad bad nios on jud 96 The silent trickling of a tear; soda to jud nomm olare The lamp doth glimmer pale and faint, doidw anoitoalloo wet sasda 30 ba Like the light upon a saint, oft lo museum sitria odt A brossa adWhen the veil of death doth fall,-le-dilaM 1070 anios 550 bis 907552Covering the face from all, & H.A luaoM to sail out to The sister sitteth by the bed, bids ad vlters bebros (blog to oaBending down her mantled head; odt to anios 9dT II -You may hear the long-drawn sighede Tisau adada erit isbns betHeave her bosom's drapery.itio ed ai bonis bas EŢI bas banion nood She hath watched the weary night, o smen en sad lis yadT to olyja auogSleep hath darkened not her eye; diw boaesque vitonit

III add AThe dewy feet of morning lightstoots to aviaas1qx9 70 Jens 198 ad mo Are gleaming far and nigh. to nord eds of hatavale ribsй sant to Lonely doth the sunbeam glisten ryb aids to agni 80799 dona no In that gloomy chamber. Listen driss no wobsda abo" gob ads to To the tabret's wailings sweet, niezeuH bassogid bus sew yb aids to Like the mourner's slow-drawn feet! blodasid edt eetlotew marilo 008 Death is on her, like a dreamMoitie A od wew bus to be on our spirit's golden stream, sie odt to 9204T III redt lao tud There she lieth-and the vest, svitom lesitilog most odw coba odt to seStrewed with flowers, is on her breast.soa doum er lids W Sleep on, beautiful and fair,bns blog to stalno molto adT by aid of a floThe shroud is on thy summer hair, oled to salataim sai I t bat And the sun-light dimly creepethe broodwin brow Your Minent unowa Through the death-veil folded there, as diasvig yderent bus altit dood bus On the face of her who sleepeth aids stod svar exordio

ORIENTAL NUMISMATICS.

We have, on a former occasion, adverted to the use which the Russian government have made of their late victories for the advancement of literature, in the collection of MSS., which they have added to the Imperial Library at St. Petersburgh. It now remains for us to state another great advantage derived from the late war, in the formation of the largest collection of Persic coins ever made, from the contribution paid by the Persians to Russia, and presented by the Emperor to the Academy of Sciences, which previously possessed in its extensive Asiatic Museum, the richest collection of Persian coins of ancient times and of the middle ages.

The following particulars of this imperial donation, and of its arrangement in the museum, are extracted from an excellent account drawn up by the learned Professor Fræhn, and contained in a Russian publication.

The collection is divided into four classes:* I. coins of the older times; II. coins of the kings of Persia of the dynasty of the Sefides; III. coins of the kings of Persia of the dynasty of the Sendides; IV. coins of the kings of Persia of the dynasty of the Kadjars.

I. There are only two Cufic gold coins in the whole collection; but they are numismatic curiosities of some interest. The one, dated A.H. 488 (A.D. 1095) is a coin of Berkjaruk, fourth sultan of the Seldjuk dynasty in Iran, which bears the proud titles of "Exalted Sultan, Commander of the Moslems, Pillar of the Faith, accustomed to victory." The place of coinage seems to have been Awah, a town situated between Teheran and Hamadan, from which no coin had been previously known. Coins of the Seldjuks of Asia Minor are rather common, but of those of Iran they are scarce, and there are but very few collections which can boast of possessing any. The first were found in the Asiatic Museum of the Imperial Academy. The second of these Cufic coins is of Malik-el-umera, Seif eddin ghazi ben Maudud, the second Atabek of the line of Mosul, A.H. 573 (A.D. 1177-8), also very scarce and unrecorded; apparently the third Atabek gold coin known.‡

II. The coins of the Sefides (thirteen in number, and also of gold) are of the shahs Husein, Tahmasp II. and Abbas III. of the years 1711, 1717—1722 and 1732, and coined in the cities of Ispahan, Kasvin, Meshhed, and Gendsha. They all bear the name of the shah by whose order they had been coined, distinctly expressed, with the addition of titles, in the pompous style of the east, or expressive of affected humility. Thus the infant Abbas III., whom Nadir elevated to the throne of the Sefides, and with whom the series of Persian kings of this dynasty terminated, is called on one of these coins, 'God's shadow on earth," and "a second Tamerlane:" so, on another, the weak and bigotted Hussein calls himself, "servant of Ali," or "the dog that watches the threshold of the holy grave of Ali." But coins of this dynasty are well known, the Asiatic Museum alone possessing nearly 200 of them.

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III. Those of the Persian rulers of the Kurd dynasty of Send, or Zund, who, from political motives, never assumed the title of shah, but only that of Wakil, are much scarcer, although more recent than those of the Sefides.

• The collection consists of 421 gold and 212 silver coins.

It is a mistake of Herbelot and others to attribute to this monarch, as well as to his predecessor, Malik-shah, the title of Emir el-muamenin, or commander of the faithful. They have overlooked the word Kasim, which in Mirchond and Kondemir, from which those statements were taken, precedes that title, and thereby gives it the meaning of "one allied to the ruler of the faithful by sworn treaties." Many other Seldjuks have borne this, or a similar title.

The two others are, one in the Royal Numismatic Cabinet at Copenhagen, and the other in the British Museum.

Those hitherto mentioned as existing in European cabinets are, for the most part, of the founder of this dynasty, Kerim Khan, the wisest monarch of Persia. The museum had but few coins of his successors, most of which, though still very imperfect, are found in the Marsden collection in London. The imperial donation has furnished the means of completing the series of coins of this dynasty, extending over a period of nearly fifty years, with the exception of Saky Khan, Kerim's half-brother; and it is doubted whether he tever exercised the prerogative of making money. There are coins of Kerim Khan, of A.H. 1177-1193 (A.D. 1763–1779); of Abu'l-Fet'h, second son of Kerim, 1193 (1779); of Sadik, brother of Kerim, 1193-1196 (1779— 1782); of Ali Murad, half-brother of Kerim, 1196–1199 (1782—1785); of Jafer, son of Sadik, 1199—1201 and 1203 (1785—1789); and of Lutf Ali, Jafer's son, the last of the line, 1204-1206 and 1208 (1789-1794). These coins, 132 in number, and all of gold, were coined in the towns of Shiraz (which Kerim made the capital), Ispahan (which became the capital again under Ali Murad), Yezd, Kerman, Kashan, Kasvin, Teheran, Mazanderan, Reshd, Koi, Tabreez, Erivan, and Basra, and at "the king's stirrup," i.e. on his journies.+

Almost all the coins of this dynasty (which in point of neatness are very inferior to those of the preceding dynasties), as well as of the present, have the peculiarity of bearing the name of the sovereign in a kind of exergue, but at the top, and at the same time usually in a secret manner; which makes it now and then rather difficult to distinguish them. The name is found in the shape of a pious address to God, to Mahomet, Ali, or some other saint, with which the name of the prince may have chanced to accord. Thus, for instance, on the coins of Kerim (whose name signifies "the gracious," which is one of the › hundred epithets of the divinity among the Mahometans), "Oh, Kerim!” (i,e. «Oh, most merciful God!); on those of Ali Murad Khan, "Oh, Ali!" On the coins of Jafer Khan, “O, Imam Jafer Sadik !" the application of this is the more striking, because Jafer was a son of Sadik Khan. Lutf Ali alone used, on his coins, his own name, but which also signifies " the grace of Ali ;" without, however, the addition of any titles. For the rest, the usual inscription on the Sendid coins consists either of the Shyite confession of faith, or of a pompous Persian distich in honour of the "Lord of Time," as the Persians call Mehdi, the twelfth and last.Imam of the family of Ali, who, about * the middle of the ninth century of our era became invisible, and whose reappearance the Sunnites expect at the end of the world, but the Shyites every day, when it is expected he will convert all the world to the faith of Mahomet. The distich generally runs thus:

By the coinage of the true imam, the Lord of Time,

Shine like the sun and moon in the world, the gold and silver far.

There are among these coins several very scarce and remarkable pieces; for instance, those coined, under Kerim, at Basra, in 1776, in which year this important Turkish town (which is here styled "the mother of cities ") was conquered and occupied by the Wakil's brother, Sadik Khan; also that of

Of the year 1178 (1764-5).

† Zarbi-rikab, literally "coin of the (royal) stirrup." In the same manner several coins of the Mongol Khans of Kaptchak bear the inscription of "coin of the ordu," or "of the sublime ordu," i.e. court or camp of the khan. According to Cantemir, the Turkish sultans had also money coined during their journeys and expeditions, with the inscription: "in the imperial ordu." On some coins of Mamoon, however, has been erroneously read "camp before Shash" (ie. Táshkend), instead of "mines of Shash," from whence the metal was taken.

The same coin is also mentioned in Marsden's Numismata Orient., p. 493, No. 629, but with an erroneous interpretation.

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