roof, with a pot pendent over a grateless fire, filled with fare that may rather be called a permission to exist, than a support of vigorous life; the inmates, as may be expected, lean, withered, dusky, and smoke-dried. But my picture is not of this island only. Notwithstanding the excellency of the land, above a thousand pounds worth of meal is annually imported; a famine threatened at this time, but was prevented by the seasonable arrival of a meal ship; and the inhabitants, like the sons of Jacob of old, flocked down to buy food. Ale is frequently made in this island of the young tops of heath, mixing two thirds of that plant with one of malt, sometimes adding hops. Boethius relates that this liquor was much used among the Picts, but when that nation was extirpated by the Scots, the secret of making it perished with them. The country blest with fine manures; besides seawrack, coral, shell-sand, rock, and pit marle, it possesses a tract of thirty-six square miles of limestone. What treasures, if properly applied, to bring wealth and plenty into the island. Numbers of cattle are bred here, and about seventeen hundred are annually exported, at the price of fifty shillings each. The island is often overstocked, and numbers die in March for want of fodder. None but milch cows are housed; cattle of all other kinds, except the saddle-horses, run out during winter. The number of inhabitants is computed to be between seven and eight thousand. About seven hundred are employed in the mines and in the fishery; the rest are gentlemen-farmers, sub-tenants, or servants. The women spin. Few as yet have migrated. The servants are paid in kind; the sixth part of the crop. They have houses gratis: the master gives them the seed for the first year, and lends them horses to plough annually the land annexed. The air is less healthy than that of Jura: the present epidemical diseases are dropsies and cancers, the natural effects of bad food. The quadrupeds of this island are stoats, weasels, otters, and hares: the last small, dark-coloured, and bad runners. The birds are eagles, peregrine-falcons, black and red game, and a very few ptarmigans. Redbreasted goosanders breed on the shore among the loose stones, wild geese in the moors. Herons in the island in Loch-Guirm. The fish are plaise, smeardab, large dabs, mullets, ballan, lump-fish, black goby, greater dragonet, and that rare fish the lepadogaster of M. Gouan. Vipers swarm in the heath; the natives retain the vulgar error of their stinging with their forked tongues; that a sword on which the poison has fallen will hiss in water like a red hot iron; and that a poultice of human ordure is an infallible cure for the bite. whom he took it from, and that person again takes the middle place. There are two other trials of strength: first, throwing the sledge-hammer; the other seems local. Two men sit on the ground foot to foot: each lays hold of a short stick, and the champion that can pull the other over is the winner. In this island, several ancient diversions and supersti-thirty-four years! at the expiration of which time, tions are still preserved; the last indeed are almost extinct, or at most lurk only among the very meanest of the people. The late wakes or funerals, like those of the Romans, were attended with sports and dramatic entertainments, composed of many parts, and the actors often changed their dresses suitable to their characters. The subject of the drama was historical, and preserved by memory. The active sports are wrestling. Another is performed by jumping on a pole held up horizontally by two men: the performer lights on his knees, takes hold with both hands, bends and kisses it, and then springs off. He who succeeds in the feat when the poll is at its highest elevation, carries the prize. A second game of activity is played by two or three hundred, who form a circle; and every one places his stick in the ground before him by way of barrier. A person, called the odd man, stands in the middle, and delivers his bonnet to any one in the ring. This is nimbly handed round, and the owner is to recover it; and on succeeding, he takes the place of the person one of them was taken ill, and after a short period died; the survivor was advised to be separated from the corpse, which she absolutely refused in these words: "As we hours after her sister's decease, she was taken ill and came together, we will also go together;" and about six died also. A stone near the rector's pew, marked with a diagonal line, is shown as the place of their interment. It is further stated, that by their will, they bequeathed their successors, churchwardens, for ever, certain to the church wardens of the parish of Biddenden, and pieces or parcels of land in the parish, containing about twenty acres, which is hired at forty guineas per annum. and that in commemoration of this wonderful phenomena of nature, the rolls, and about 300 quartern loaves and inhabitants of the parish. and cheese in proportion, should be given to the poot antiquarian Hasted, in his account of the charities of This account is entirely traditionary; the learned the parish, states the land" was the gift of two maidens of the name of Preston; and that the print of the woman on the cakes has only been used within these eighty years, and was made to represent two poor widows, as the general objects of a charitable benefac- | tion." It is probable that the investigation of the learned antiquary brought to light some record of the name of the ladies, but in the year 1656, the Rev. W. Horner, then rector of the parish, claimed the land, as having been given to augment his glebe, but was nonsuited in the Court of Exchequer; in the pleadings preserved in the church, the names of the ladies are not stated, not being known. There are also two other places where such phenomena are said to have occurred. If these statements weaken the credibility of the tradition, the following account of a lusus naturæ, compiled from the London Medical Repository for 1821, page 138, will unquestionably confirm the opinion of many, as to the probability of the phenomenon of the Biddenden Maids. Mr. Livingston, the surgeon of the British factory at Canton, relates that there was shown at Macao, A-ke, a boy about sixteen years of age, to whom was attached another male child, united at the pit of the stomach by the neck, as if his head was plunged into A-ke's breast. At the time of their birth they were nearly of an equal size, but the parasite has not much increased since that period. The skin of A-ke joins regularly and smoothly the neck of the parasite, so that he can turn his brother on either of his sides upon himself, but the natural position is breast to breast; on the whole, the parasite is well formed, being about two feet in length. A-ke thinks that at one period their feelings were reciprocal, but for some time he has not perceived it, except in one particular act, when his brother never fails to do the same; he however feels the slightest touch applied to his brother. A-ke has generally a sickly appearance, but excepting the parasite, is well formed; about four feet ten inches high, is easily fatigued in walking or ascending a flight of steps, being obliged to support his brother with his hands. When fatigued he breathes with difficulty, and is only relieved by lying down. In the Transactions of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, vol. ii. a plate represents two female children united together at the stomach; they were not otherwise deformed, and had the small-pox at the same time. When they walked, it was sideways, and something in the form of a circle; they crossed their heads and arms to act or look different ways; with care they could walk up stairs, and were active when playing with other children; they lived until they were nearly seven years old, when the death of one destroyed the other. The communication is from Andrew Berry, M. D., F. R. S. E.-Cabinet of Curiosities. CONFUSION OF THE SENSES. friend in the apartment, and spoke in almost inaudible whispers. She repeated, with great power of memory, every word of the conversation. In short, I came away a convert; in other words, I believed what I had seen. Á philosopher knows the fallibility of the senses; but he should know, likewise, that science ought not to reject because it cannot have demonstration.”---Ib. THE WHIRLWINDS, MIRAGE, AND LOCUSTS OF EGYPT. A STRONG wind that arose this day leads me to mention some particulars of the phenomena that often happen in Egypt. The first I shall notice is the whirlwinds, which occur all the year round, but especially at the time of the camseen wind, which begins in April, and lasts fifty days. Hence the name of camseen, which in Arabic signifies fifty. It generally blows from the southwest, and lasts four, five, or six days without varying so very strong, that it raises the sands to a great height, forming a general cloud, so thick that it is impossible to keep the eyes open, if not under cover. It is troublesome even to the Arabs; it forces the sand into the houses through every cranny, and fills every thing with it. The caravans cannot proceed in the deserts; the boats cannot continue their voyages and travellers are obliged to eat sand in spite of their teeth. The whole is like a chaos. Often a quantity of sand and small stones gradually ascends to a great height, and forms a column sixty or seventy feet in diameter, and so thick, that were it steady on one spot, it would appear a solid mass. This not only revolves within its own circumference, but runs in a circular direction over a great space of ground, sometimes maintaining itself in motion for half an hour; and where it falls it accumulates a small hill of sand, God help the poor traveller who is caught under it! The next phenomenon is the mirage, often described by travellers, who assert having been deceived by it, as at a distance it appears to them like water. This is certainly the fact; and I must confess that I have been deceived myself, even after I was aware of it. The perfect resemblance to water and the strong desire for this element, made me conclude, in spite of all my caution not to be deceived, that it was really water I saw. It generally appears like a still lake, so unmoved by the wind that every thing above is to be seen most distinctly reflected by it, which is the principal cause of the deception. If the wind agitate any of the plants that arise above the horizon of the mirage, the motion is seen perfectly at a great distance. If the traveller stand elevated much above the mirage, the apparent water seems less united and less deep; for, as the eyes look down upon it, there is not thickness Some years ago there was a woman residing in the neighbourhood of Lyons, who seemed to have the quali-enough in the vapour on the surface of the ground to ty of one sense transferred to another. A very learned physician, a writer in the Journal de Sante, gives an account of having visited this woman at Lyons. He says, The woman whom I visited, and to whom I presented several sorts of medicines, powders, simples, compounds, and many other substances, which I am convinced she never saw before, told me their several tastes, as nearly, and with as much precision as taste could pronounce. She described them, indeed, with astonishing exactness, and frequently when my own palate was confounded. "Her eyes were next bound with a thick bandage, and I drew from my pockets several sorts of silk ribbands. All those that differed in the original colours she immediately told me. It was in vain to attempt puzzling her; she made no mistake; she passed the ribband merely through her hand, and immediately decided on its peculiar colour. She could, in fact, discover the quality of any thing by the touch or taste, as accurately as I could do with my eyes. conceal the earth from the sight. But if the traveller be on the level with the horizon of the mirage, he cannot see through it, so that it appears to him clear water. By putting my head first to the ground, and then mounting a camel, the height of which from the ground might have been about ten feet at the most, I found a great difference in the appearance of the mirage. On approaching it, it becomes thinner, and appears as if agitated by the wind, like a field of ripe corn. It gradually vanishes as the traveller approaches, and at last entirely disappears when he is on the spot. The third phenomenon is the LOCUSTS. These animals I have seen in such clouds that twice the number in the same space would form an opaque mass, which would wholly intercept the rays of the sun, and cause complete darkness. They alight on fields of corn and other vegetables, and in a few minutes devour their whole produce. They are something like the grasshopper in form, about two inches in length. They are generally of a yellow or gold colour, but there are some red and some green.' "The organs of hearing were then closed, as well as the contrivance of stuffing the ears would answer the purpose. I then commenced a conversation with a-Belzoni's Travels. POETRY. SUMMER WIND. It is a sultry day; the sun has drank O come, and breathe upon the fainting earth MISCELLANY. CURIOUS CASE OF DECEPTION. A VERY curious case of deception was communicated to me by the son of the lady principally concerned, and tends to show out of what mean materials a venerable apparition may be sometimes formed. In youth, this lady resided with her father, a man of sense and resolution. Their house was situated in the principal street of a town of some size. The back part of the house ran at right angles to an anabaptist chapel, divided from it by a small cabbage garden. The young lady used sometimes to indulge the romantic love of solitude, by sitting in her own apartment in the evening, till twilight, and even darkness, was approaching. One evening, while she was thus placed, she was surprised to see a gleamy figure, as of some aerial being, hovering as it were, against the arched window in the end of the anabaptist chapel. Its head was surrounded O by that halo which painters give to the catholic saints; and while the young lady's attention was fixed on an object so extraordinary, the figure bent gracefully towards her more than once, as if intimating a sense of her presence, and then disappeared. The seer of this striking vision descended to her family so much discomposed as to call her father's attention. He obtained an account of the cause of her disturbance, and expressed his intention to watch in the apartment next night, He sat, accordingly, in his daughter's chamber, where she also attended him. Twilight came, and nothing appeared; but as the gray light faded into darkness, the same female figure was seen hovering on the window; the same shadowy form; the same pale light around the head; the same inclinations, as the evening before. "What do you think of this ?" said the daughter to the astonished father. "Any thing, my dear," said the father, "rather than allow that we look upon what is supernatural." A strict research established a natural cause for the appearance on the window. It was the custom of an old woman, to whom the garden beneath was rented, to go out at night to gather cabbages. The lantern she carried in her hand threw up the refracted reflection of her form on the chapel window. As she stooped to gather cabbages, the reflection appeared to bend forward; and that was the whole matter.Sir WALTER SCOTT'S DEMONOLOGY. IT is the prerogative of GENIUS to confer a measure of itself upon inferior intelligences. In reading the works of Milton, Bacon, and Newton, thoughts greater than the growth of our own minds are transplanted into them; and feelings more profound, sublime, or comprehensive, are insinuated amidst our ordinary train; while in the eloquence with which they are clothed we learn a new language, worthy of the new ideas created in us. Of how much pure and exalted enjoy. ment is he ignorant, who never entertained, as angels, the bright emanations of loftier intellects than his own? By habitual communion with superior spirits, we not only are enabled to think their thoughts, speak their dialect, feel their emotions, but our own thoughts are refined, our scanty langurge is enriched, our common feelings are elevated; and though we may never attain their standard, yet, by keeping company with them, we shall rise above our own; as trees, growing in the society of a forest, are said to draw each other up into shapely and stately proportion, while field and hedge-row stragglers, exposed to all weathers, never reach their full stature, luxuriance, or beauty.→ JAMES MONTGOMERY. A necesitous man who gives costly dinners, pays large sums to be laughed at.-Lacon. ONE HUNDRED AGENTS Could be advantageously employed in different sections of the Union, in obtaining subscribers for this Magazine. It is not of a local character, but is calculated for general circulation; and hence subscribers may as well be obtained in one part of the counand a number to the amount of one hundred at least, could be try as another. Good encouragement will be given to agents, furnished by us with profitable employment. PUBLISHED AT 222 WILLIAM STREET, BY ORIGEN BACHELER, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. R. N. WHITE, ENGRAVER. TERMS. ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. Should an order for the Magazine be received, unaccompanied by advance payment, one number will be sent, showing our terms; after which, no more will be forwarded till payment shall have been received. Companies of four individuals, sending FIVE DOLLARS, current here, free of postage, will be furnished with four copies for one year. Companies of ten, sending TEN DOLLARS as above, will be furnished with ten copies. As the sum of $1 50, which is the price of the Magazine to a single subscriber, cannot conveniently be sent by mail, it will be necessary that two subscribers at least send payment in a letter together. Schools adopting the Magazine will be supplied at ONE DOLLAR per annum for each copy. The postage on the Magazine is 3-4 of a cent under one hundred miles, and 1 cent and 1-4 for any distance over. Book and Job Printing EXECUTED WITH NEATNESS AND DESPATCH AT THIS OFFICE. VOL. I. OR WEEKLY ABSTRACT OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1833. HISTORY. To the Editor of the Family Magazine :- Enoch. It is known to all students acquainted with antiquity, that a book was extant and frequently quoted, the authorship of which was ascribed to the patriarch Enoch. Tertullian quotes it in regard to the introduction by angels of gold, silver, mixed and lustrous colors in female apparel; Clemens Alexandrinus quotes it in reference to the introduction of astronomy and divination; and Jude quotes it in reference to the fall and reservation of apostate angels to the judgment. Without more introduction, I present you the translation from Dr. Grabe's "Spicilegium Patrum," written in Greek. HISTORY OF THE WATCHMEN, OR THE Written by Enoch the Patriarch. F. NO. 18. He taught his posterity the art of extracting metals out of the earth, and the curiosity of working in gold and silver, to make ornaments and female decorations: He directed and showed them to polish, and give a lustre to choice stones and to colours: The sons of men soon furnished themselves and their daughters with God, they drove the pious and just into miscarriages; these vanities; and breaking through the commands of insomuch that a monstrous appearance of impiety stalked over the face of the whole earth. Semiazas, their prince, discovered the art of hatred to reserve envy in the mind, and infuse misfortunes upon others by the roots of herbs. Pharmarus, the eleventh prince, found out witchcraft, charms, and inchantments. fourth the science of Astrology. The eighth the The ninth revealed the course of the stars. The inspection of the air, The third of the earth. The seventh of the sun. The twentieth explained the All of them displayed these signs of the moon. secrets of knowledge to their wives and sons. The giants soon after began to feed upon human flesh, which made the number of men to decrease, and sensibly to decay. Those who were left being harrassed with so many instances of wickedness, raised their voice to heaven, and implored that their memory might be preserved in the sight of God. The four great Archangels, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel, being affected with their cries, looked down upon the earth from the holiness of heaven; and beholding a general effusion of blood, and a spirit of universal impiety, had this communication among them And it came to pass when the sons of men were increased, that very beautiful daughters were born unto them-with these the Watchmen were in love, and burnt with desire toward them, which drew them into many sins and follies. They communed with them-selves: "The spirits and souls of men implore our aid selves:-"Let us," say they, "choose us wives out of the daughters of men upon the earth." Semiazas, their prince, made answer; "I fear," says he, "you will not execute your resolution; and so I shall derive upon myself alone the guilt of this impiety." They all replied and said; "We will bind ourselves with an oath to perform our purpose, and invoke dreadful imprecations upon our heads, if we depart from our enterprize before it be accomplished." So they obliged themselves with an oath, and implored an arrest of vengeance upon one another. They were two hundred, who in the days of Jared came down upon the top of Mount Hermon. The mountain received that name from the oath by which they bound themselves, and the imprecations they wilfully submitted themselves under. The names of their princes were these: 1, Semiazas, the chief of them; 2, Atarcuph; 3, Araciel; 4, Chobabiel; 5, Horammame; 6, Ramiel; 7, Sampsich; 8, Zachiel; 9, Balciel; 10, Azalzel; 11, Pharmarus; 12, Amariel; 13, Anagemus; 14, Thansæl; 15, Samiel; 16, Saurinas; 17, Eumiel; 18, Tyriel; 19, Jumiel; 20, Sariel. These, and all the rest of them, took to themselves wives in the year of the world one thousand one hundred and seventy, and were inflamed with lust toward them till the flood. The offspring of these women were of three sorts: The first race were giants, or tall men: They begat the Naphelims, and from them came the Eliudaans; and their number increased according to the proportion of their bodies. They instructed their wives and children in sorcery and inchantments. Azalzel, the tenth in the order of princes, was the first inventor of swords and breastplates, and all military appointments: in agonies of sorrow; Introduce" they cry, "our prayers to the Highest." Then the four Archangels, calling upon God, delivered themselves thus; "Thou art God of gods and Lord of Lords, King of kings and God of men; The throne of thy glory endures to all ages, and thy name is Holy and Blessed for evermore; for thou art the Creator of all things; thy power is over all things; all things are open and manifest before thee, nor can anything be concealed from thee. Thou seest the actions of Azalzel; the misfortunes he has occasioned; the wickedness and the abominable practices he has taught upon the earth; how he has corrupted it with fraud and villainy; He has divulged the great arcana of heaven; and the sons of men are led, by his example, to inspect the celestial mysteries: Semiazas thou hast ordained to be the prince of those who are about him; but they have all turned themselves to the daughters of the men of the earth, and polluting themselves with women have discovered to them all the methods of impiety, and instructed them to perpetrate all degrees of abomination; And now, behold, the daughters of men have born to them a gigantic offspring; a foul blemish of corruption has infected the whee earth, and the world is full of injustice. Lo, the spirits of the souls of men who have been dead attend thee; their groans have arrived as far as the gates of heaven, and they cannot depart, by reason of the exceeding impiety that is committed upon the earth ; Yet thou knowest these things before they were effected: Dost Thou see them and say nothing? What must be done upon this occasion ?" The Highest made answer, and the Holy Great One replied and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, saying; "Go to Noc, and acquaint him in my name, Hide thyself; And inform him that the end approaches, for the whole earth shall perish. And tell him a deluge shall overspread the whole earth, and all things shall be destroyed upon the face of it. Instruct the just son of Lamech what he shall do, and he shall preserve his scul unto life; and he shall be safe in his generation; From him shall a new race be derived and established, and shall continue to all ages." And he said to Raphael: "Go, Raphael, and bind Azalzel: chain him hand and foot, and cast him into darkness; open the desert that is in the wilderness of Dudael; go and plunge him in there; cover him with sharp and rugged stones; involve darkness over him, which he shall inhabit to eternity: Obstruct his sight that he may not see the light, and that he may be brought out in the day of judgment, to be consumed by fire. Heal the earth that the Watchmen have polluted; open the wound, that the cure may be perfected, lest all the sons of men should perish, by reason of the mysteries which were discovered by the Watchmen, who instructed the sons of men in them, and upon whose account the whole earth is become a wilderness by the revelations of Azalzel; and write all the impieties that are committed upon the earth." And He said to Gabriel; Go thou, Gabriel, to the giants, the spurious breed, the sons of adultery, and destroy the sons of the Watchmen from the sons of men; Incite them one against another; Exasperate them to wars and mutual destruction; for their life shall be cut off, and they shall have no liberty to enquire of their fathers, though they promised themselves eternal life, and that they should continue five hundred years. "And He said to Michael; "Go, Michael, and bind Semiazas, and the others that are with him, who have mingled themselves with the daughters of men, and have corrupted them with their own impurities; For their sons shall be destroyed, and they shall behold the ruin of their beloved ones; Bind them in the bowels of the earth for seventy generations; until the days wherein they shall be judged; until the days of their consummation when their judgment shall be finished for all ages: Then shall they be hurled into a Chaos of fire; into torments and the bonds of eternal Chains; and whosoever shall at present be judged and condemned with them, shall be bound likewise to the end of the world." "And now the giants, who were produced from spirit and flesh, shall be wicked spirits; and because they descended from men, and derive their original from the holy Watchmen, they shall be evil spirits upon the earth. The chief of the giants shall ravage, slay, and plunder; they shall assault, contend, and overthrow upon the ground, and make incursions upon others: They shall eat nothing, but they shall thirst, and form apparitions, and invade: And these spirits shall fall upon the sons of men and women, from whom they were produced. And it shall come to pass, that from the first moment of the death and destruction of the giants, the Naphelims, and the strong of the earth, the mighty spirits going out from the souls of the giants, as they were made of flesh, shall spoil without distinction, until the consummation of all things shall come, until the great judgment, wherein the world shall be finished, and at once reduced to an end forever." "The mountain upon which they obliged themselves by oaths, and devoted themselves with mutual imprecations, shall never be without colds and snow; the kind dews shall never descend upon it, until the day of the great judgment; It shall be consumed and overthrown at that time; it shall be destroyed with horrible burnings; it shall melt like wax, and the fruits upon it shall be parched up." And now I declare to you, ye sons of men, a fierce indignation is denounced against you and your sons; an indignation which shall not abate, till your sons are utterly abolished; your beloved ones shall perish, and your honourable ones shall be cut off from the earth; for the days of their life from this instant shall be no more than a hundred and twenty years: Do not persuade yourselves you shall continue any longer, forthere is no way of refuge from the present indignation, with which the King of all Ages is incensed against you; Do not imagine you shall avoid these things." LITERATURE. For the Family Magazine. LANGUAGE. It is productive of one of the most pleasing emotions that can enter the intellectual mind, to ponder over the palpable and undeniable traces of the earlier ages of the world. Man is a being of wonder to himself. He feels the swelling thoughts of a sublime consciousness enlarging within him when he surveys a fragment of a column on which still lingers the traces of a Grecian chisel; he feels proud of the deathless aspirations of mind that have committed the signs of thought to the flinty rocks of Arabia. It is the fault of the present age, that it is too much occupied with itself. Rarely, in the velocity of its utilitarian and practical improvements, does it pause to look over the map of departed ages: rarely does it hallow modern innovations by a reference to the impressive and lonely and incontrovertible wisdom of antiquity. Human nature in the earliest ages of the world had attained a surprising moral perfectibility. Wisdom was the precocious growth of the earlier centuries. Art might indeed have lingered for the propulsion of modern philosophy; but all antiquity was smitten, imbued, and deeply penetrated with the philosophy of morals, and with a few of those great and leading principles of equity that still remain as unchangeably true now as when the green earth first drank in the accents of the human voice. The earliest object of literature was truth. To describe, propagate, and perpetuate facts, was the earliest province of letters. This too was the high purpose of the earliest of pictures, Fiction was the production of an era that needed or feigned the need of higher excitements than the stale records of simple fact might impart. To illustrate this, we will only refer to a single instance in which history has gained a strong collateral evidence from the ancient custom of sculpturing figures and inscriptions in the surface of the living rock-Amidst the solitary deserts where all ancient history had assigned the location of the once proud and powerful Assyrian dynasty, a mountain was discovered, rude, rugged and barren,-yet its base, girded with the bleak rocks, was not barren of intelligence. Here sat, in a sort of heraldic pomp, fairly cut in relief from the flinty marble, the figure of a queen. She was known to be a queen by certain insignia recognized as emblems of rule and power in every age of the world; but what a queen was she! Thick clustering around, and almost starting from the unwasting marble, her attendants are seen-one hundred in number, each bearing a shield. The mind of the spectator instantly becomes impressed with the dignity of the lifeless effigy before him. What female form has ever blessed or cursed this earth whose, bosom was shielded from the fierce clash of steel by a hundred armour-bearers? What means this formidable lifeguard? Does each individual represent a province ? Is it possible that a hundred provinces once rallied at the bidding of a female voice, and concentrated the shields of their power over a bosom that was more prone according to all previous human experience, to beat the gentle movements of love and affection, than the rough and grating measures of war! An inscription or a series of inscriptions in the ancient Syriac character, inscriptions cut deeply into the face of the rock, reveals the fact that this queen is no other than the renowned Semiramis, whose fame filled the earlier world with as fearful a clangor as that of Napoleon did the later era. Diodorus Siculus was not ashamed to |