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well, are hospitable, and follow their faith, become stars; the souls of others return to the earth, and become Ansayrii again, until, purified, they fly to rest. The souls of bad men become Jews, Christians, and Turks; while the souls of those who belive not, become pigs and other beasts. One eve, sitting with a dear old man,-a high sheik,-his boys were round him, I said, "Speak: where are the sons of your youth? these are the children of your old age." "My son," he said, looking up, "is there; nightly he smiles on me, and invites me to come."

They pray five times a day, saying several prayers each time, turning this way or that, having no keblah. If a Christian or Turk sees them at their devotions, the prayers are of no avail. At their feasts, they pray in a room closed and guarded from the sight or ingress of the uninitiated.

This will give a general outline of the faith and customs of the Ansayrii. My intercourse with them was on the most friendly footing, and daily a little was added to my stock of information. Let me, however, warn the traveller against entering into argument with them, or avowing, through the dragoman, a knowledge of their creed. They are as ready and prompt to avenge as they are generous and hospitable to protect. To destroy one who deceives them on this point, is an imperative duty; and I firmly believe they would do it though you took shelter on the divan of the Sultan. For myself the risk is passed; I have gone through the ordeal, and owe my life several times to perfect accident.

This is not very clear or satisfactory; but it is evident that preferring Ali al Hamid to Muhammad would alone be a source of vital schism between the Ansayrii and the Turks, and yet constitute them neither Shiahs nor Sunnis. "We shall, I think," says Mr. Walpole, a little further on, "find that this religion commenced as a mere sect of Mussulmans, and that subsequent bitter persecution had led their shaikhs, or religious heads, to deny all parts of the oppressor's creed, and substitute fresh follies in their stead-that, in fact, mysticism was heaped on mysticism, till they themselves are puzzled in their belief."

Mr. Walpole does not, except in his title-page, positively identify the Ansayrii with the Assassins, generally considered by modern German writers, after Gibbon, to be the Kadmusians, or Ishmalians from Persia. Upon this subject Mr. Walpole says, "William of Tyre mentions a race as met by the Crusaders in their march from Antioch, whom he calls Assassins; they were under a chief, Seikh el Djebel (Shaikh al Jibal)— literally the Old Man of the Mountain-nor does the devotion they showed at all differ from what they would as readily show to-day." The term Assassin is now generally admitted to be derived from these people, and from the intoxicating drugs, hemp and opium-hashish-which they used to excite themselves to deeds of desperation. Under that name, and under the name of Churrus in Persia, and Gunjah in India, this drug is still extensively used in the East. Makrizi particularly describes in glowing terms certain pleasure-grounds by name, Junaina, in the vicinity of Cairo, which were famed for indulgence in the pleasures of hashisn, or hashiha. The mass of argument is rather in favour of the Ismayli being the so-called Assassins of the Crusaders, than the Ansayrii; both no doubt have used, or do use, the drug hashish. Benjamin of Tudela, who wrote A.D. 1163, speaks of the Assassins, "who do not believe in the tenets of Muhammadanism, but in those of one whom they consider like unto the prophet Kharmath. He goes by the name of Shaikh al Hashishin. His residence is in the city of Kadmus (Kalah al Kadmus of Mr. Walpole), the Kedemoth of Scripture in the land of Sichon." At that time the Assassins were at war with the Christians, and with the Count of Tripoli. Jan.-VOL. XCIV. NO. CCCLXXIII.

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It may appear to many that Mr. Walpole has, by some species of freemasonry or mental reserve, or from the mysticism itself being unfit for publication, rather added to the mystery of the Ansayrian creed than cleared it up. Many passages in his work would induce to this belief. As, for example, where he says, "For this I wandered as a beggar, endured hardships more than I should like to tell; cold, hunger, and fatigue more than I trust others will know; have been beaten, hurt with stones, yet the result more than repays me. That alone, without means, without powers to buy or bribe, I have penetrated a secret the enigma of ages-have dared alone to venture where none have beenwhere the government with five hundred soldiers could not follow; and, better than all, have gained esteem among the race condemned as savages, and feared as robbers and ASSASSINS."

For our part, we feel satisfied that the whole is a mere mysticismthat, in fact, to use Mr. Walpole's own subsequent words, "mysticism has been heaped upon mysticism, till the Ansayrii themselves are puzzled with their belief." They are probably held together by some shibboleth of faith whispered by their shaikhs at their initiation." If you are under the sword, the rope, or the torture, die and smile, you are blessed." But they have little or no faith save in one God; a bundle of creeds and superstitions entangled within one another; without vitality, incapable of being unravelled. In this view of the subject, Mr. Walpole's theological researches are as valuable as his geographical-he has left, if we are right, only one stronghold of the Ansayrii unexplored; has he also left one secret untold? We doubt it; the little regard paid to their women would alone disprove their being worshipped in any form. We think Mr. Walpole has treated his subject, such as it is, completely and satisfactorily, and that he deserves the highest credit for his valuable additions to our previous knowledge of the country and creed of the Ansayrii.

We cannot, further, leave Mr. Walpole's work without mentioning that although we have confined ourselves to the question of the Ansayrii, that his travels were extensive and long continued, and carried into various other most interesting districts of the East. On one occasion he visited Djuni, the residence of the late Lady Hester Stanhope, Bait ad din, Damascus, Horns, Marra, Aleppo, Aintab, and Nizib, giving en passant an account of Ibrahim Pasha's "grand victory," derived from some Levantine Story-teller. The whole account has not, indeed, one single correct statement to boast of. The Turks did not cross at Birijik, and, instead of being 70,000, were not 40,000 strong. Instead of two guns, Hafiz Pasha had 80 to 100 in the field. Crossing the Euphrates at Birijik, Mr. Walpole proceeded by Urfah to Haran, thence to Diyarbakir, and down the Tigris to Mosul. Here the excavators, he says, were fully employed, but as a sportsman hates poachers, so Mr. Walpole declined to requite the hospitality he received by ungenerous purloinings.

From Mosul, after various excursions in the neighbourhood, and a kindly word in favour of the Nestorians, for which we thank him, Mr. Walpole proceeded through Kurdistan to Van, and thence back to Constantinople by Arzrum and Trebisond. The different visits to the Ansayrii country are contained in a second trip by steam from Constantinople to the coast of Syria.

THE BOULEVARD ITALIEN.

AN INCIDENT OF THE THREE DAYS OF DECEMBER.

[Circumstances, by which we are at liberty to profit-on the sole condition of suppressing the real names of the sufferers-have placed in our possession the following narrative, written by an eye-witness of the events recorded in them. The position in life occupied by the writer must be his excuse for any apparent defects of style. We have not ventured upon any alteration, believing that to do so would rather injure than improve his simple statement.-ED. N. M. M.] IT was on the 29th of last November that

my Master, George T——, Esq., of B- House, in the county of S- was married, in London, to Miss Eliza P, the eldest daughter of Mr. P——, a gentleman of private fortune residing in the same. It was a marriage of true love, if ever there was one, and gave great satisfaction to the friends of all parties concerned, there being nothing to object to in Master's appearance, temper, or fortune; and as for Mistress, she was looked upon as an angel by everybody that had the happiness to know her. Master and Mistress had been engaged for a good while before their marriage took place; but the event had been deferred, first, on account of his being abroad with his regiment at Gibraltar, and next because of old Mr. T's death, which put him in possession of a fine property, and brought him home to England to arrange his affairs, and sell out of the army, both of which took up some time. At last the day came, and a happy one it was, as we could all bear witness to that were present.

I must say a few words about myself, being connected with all that happened after Master's marriage, and knowing a good deal of what had taken place before it. I was born on old Mr. T's estate, and was the son of a tenant of his; and when young Master entered the army I went for a soldier too, and by his interest was appointed to the same regiment, in which I served as a private; but the duty was light to me after I had been reported fit for the battalion, for then I was permitted to act as Mr. T's servant, and only joined the ranks on particular occasions.

The regiment was lying at Quebec, in Lower Canada, when first I went out, and after four years' service in that cold country, we were ordered to Gibraltar, a much stronger place than even Fort Diamond, and a great deal hotter, though the heat in summer was very great when in Canada. Master had leave of absence at this time, and then it was he first became acquainted with Mistress, at her father's house in London; but at the end of the year he joined the regiment again, and I went back to him to be his servant as before. In the course of about three years, Master purchased his company, and directly after that old Mr. T- died, as I said before, and Master made up his mind to sell out.

But before he left

Gibraltar, having a good deal of interest, he was enabled to buy me my discharge, and took me with him in a private capacity, which I was very glad of, being always much attached to him, for a kind and indulgent master he was, and never gave any man a hard word.

Wishing to see more of Spain than had fallen to his lot while at the Rock, he first went to Cadiz, and then travelled through several parts of

the country, including Madrid and other cities; and he seldom visited any place without buying some pretty or curious thing to take home to his friends in England, and poor Mistress that was to be-he told me all about his intended- was always sure to be remembered first and foremost. When we left Spain we came through France, and visited Paris, where we remained for a fortnight, and Master bought a good many more things there; but this time they were mostly for his lady only, the tradespeople of Paris being so clever in making ladies' ornaments. I didn't like the French so well as the Spaniards, who are a steadier people; but I got on very well with them, having learnt their language in Canada, in the same way that I picked up Spanish at the Rock. But I have said enough about myself now, and must return to others of more consequence.

The days being so short at this season of the year, it was getting dusk when the newly-married couple and Mistress's next sister, Miss Alice, left Mstreet for the railway-station, taking Harriet, mistress's lady'smaid, and me to wait on Master as usual. As Mistress had never been to Paris, it had been settled that the wedding-trip should be to that city; and in great spirits we all set off, for distance is not what it used to be, and people don't think of parting so much now as they once did.

We stopped the first night at the Pavilion Hotel at Folkestone, and about the middle of the next day crossed over to Boulogne in the Princess Alice steamer, making a quick passage of only two hours. The weather was very fine, and scarcely anybody was ill, and both Master and Mistress and Miss Alice seemed to enjoy it extremely; and, indeed, we all of us looked forward to a very happy excursion. At Boulogne, Master put up at the Hôtel des Bains, on account of the good table d'hôte there, being anxious that Mistress should have a good impression of French living. The same night I was sent on by the late train, to secure apartments in Paris at the Hôtel Windsor, in the Rue de Rivoli, where Master and me had stopped when we were there before; and, when that was done, my orders were to be in waiting with a carriage at the railway station, to meet the train from Boulogne at two o'clock the next-that is, on Monday-afternoon.

It happened, however, that the Hôtel Windsor was quite full, mostly of English; and, indeed, I could get no apartments that were proper anywhere along the line facing the Tuileries' gardens, which was where Master wanted to be, on account of the troops marching past in the morning on their way to guard-mounting in the Carrousel square, and also because it has a warm, sunny aspect in winter. But one of the waiters, who remembered my face, told me he thought there were plenty of apartments at the Hôtel de Castille, on the Boulevard des Italiens; and there, to be sure, I found just what I wanted, on the second floor, directly opposite the Passages of the Opera. As I could not get the rooms that Master had first named, I was glad to secure these, for the situation, as everybody knows who has been there, is the liveliest in all Paris. But I wish I'd been dead anywhere before I set foot in France, and then what I'm going to tell would never have happened.

I was punctual to the hour at the station in the Faubourg Montmartre, but the train was more than two hours behind its time, and did not get in till past four o'clock. However, that didn't so much signify, as all the

party had come quite safe and pleasant; and when I told Master what I had done, he said, in a few kind words, that it was all quite right, and, for his part, he thought it much the best; and he added, with a laugh, that Mistress would like the gay shops and cafés on the Boulevards a good deal better than the leafless trees in the Tuileries' gardens. They therefore got into the carriage that was waiting, and I followed afterwards with the luggage. The same evening Master took Mistress and Miss Alice to dine at the Maison Dorée, just across the Boulevard, and after dinner he walked with them through all the lighted passages, and round the Palais Royal; and when they came in, Mistress said she had never enjoyed anything so much in her life, and Miss Alice said the same, and how she should like to pass the rest of her days in that delightful city! They little knew, poor things, what they were saying.

The next morning, when I got up, something strange seemed to have taken possession of everybody, for all was quite changed from what it had been the night before. There was as much talking, perhaps, but it was altogether in another tone, and nobody appeared disposed to laugh or make merry. I wondered what was the meaning of this sudden change; but I had not long to wonder, for the first person I spoke to said that a coup d'état had taken place in the night, that the principal generals of the army had been arrested in their beds and taken off to prison, the French parliament dissolved, the troops in possession of all the strong points of Paris, and proclamations by the President posted about everywhere, telling the people that they were to have universal suffrage again, and more changes than I could comprehend.

I went up to Master with the news, which surprised him as much as it did every one else, but he seemed rather pleased than otherwise: "For now," said he to Mistress," you will have an opportunity of seeing how quickly a revolution can take place in this country. It's a serious step," he added, "but you need not be frightened, Eliza, for if there is any disturbance it won't be in this part of the town." He said a good deal more to convince Mistress and her sister that there was no cause for alarm, and told them that nobody was ever molested who did not interfere, and that the English were always safe whatever happened. The ladies did their best, when they heard these words, to appear calm and unconcerned, but I could easily see they were not at all comfortable.

Of course, while breakfast was going on, and during the whole of the morning, nothing was thought of or talked about but this coup d'état. The master of the hotel and all the servants were quite full of it, and seemed glad to be asked questions that they might tell all they had seen or heard. Indeed, they did not wait to be asked, but every time they came into the room they had something fresh to say, though it was not much to be depended on. The scene out of doors was curious enough. People did not walk past as usual, as if they were on business or amusing themselves; there was no regular going and coming, in a sort of stream both ways, as there always is in a large city; but they went along in knots, hurrying as it appeared to some distant point in search of news, or returning full of it, which they told to the first group they met, and then all stood talking and pointing, but never long at a time, except those who were gathered round the proclamations which were to be seen in every direction. But although all sorts of reports were circulated about what

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