apathy, when the prospect of happiness which was recently enjoyed, is suddenly overcast, and before new objects have had leisure to excite new hopes, or to dazzle with new delu-· sions of bliss.

My mind,' says Mr. Bruce, is so shocked, and the impres sions of that dreadful scene at Paris so strongly fixed, that I have it every minute before my eyes, as distinctly as it was then happening.'"My poor girl dying before my eyes, three months gone with child, full of that affection and tenderness which marriage produces, when people feel the happiness but not the cares of it; many of the Roman catholic clergy hovering about the doors; myself unable to devise any expedient to keep them from disturbing her in last moments.'- Having ordered the mourn ful solemnity (of her funeral) with as much decency as is allowed in that country to heretics, at midnight between the 10th and 11th ult. accompanied only by the chaplain, a brother. of my lord Foley's and our own servants we carried her body to the burying ground, at the Porte St. Martin, where I saw all my comfort and happiness laid with her in the grave. From thence almost frantic against the advice of every body, I got on horseback, having ordered the servant to have post horses ready, and set out in the most tempestuous night I ever saw for Boulogne, where I arrived next day without stopping. Here the riding without a great coat in the night time, in the rain, want of food, which for a long time I had not tasted, want of rest, fatigue, and excessive concern threw me into a fever, &c.'

The letters from Mr. Bruce to lord Halifax, while consul at Algiers, exhibit an interesting detail of his conduct at that place, and of the violence, injustice, and caprice of a despotic government. No. XVII. is a letter from Mr. Bruce, to a Mr. S. P. C*** who had acted as vice-consul at Algiers in the interval between the death of Mr. Ford, and the arrival of Mr. Bruce. This Mr. S. P. C. had been employed to receive the price of a cargo of corn, which had been sold to the regency of Tunis, in behalf of a widow in England to whose husband the corn had belonged; but Mr. Bruce was dissatisfied with the account which this vice-consul rendered of his disbursements. This letter is so manly, spirited, and characteristic of the integrity of Mr. B. that we wish we could spare room for the insertion of the whole.

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I received your letter unjustly attempting to shift an account to which you shall come here, or in Europe.'- 'I said and now repeat it to you, that if you do not furnish me au account, or if you furnish a false one, the consequences will fall on yourself, r, as it is oftener called, upon your head, The conséquences of

I am a

false accounts Mr. C. are not capital, but whatever they are, do not brave them.'' In consideration of your family, I give you warning not to begin shuffling with me.' trustee for widows and orphans.' Is it not more natural that I should be so than a British subject of your principles.'

Shall I send you a copy of some certificates of your character out of my chancery book, to shew how proper a man you are in point of morals for such a charge? You, Mr. C. as you confess you have means to do it, are hereby enjoined to make out your account. If you do not, I will adjudge you τό the sum of 8567 shillings, the sums which you charge Mrs. H. without vouchers.'

pay

The indignant feeling which Mr. Bruce thus expresses at a fraudulent transaction, and his determination to see justice done to an unfriended and unknown individual, are highly honourable to his character.

No. XXIII. contains a letter from Mr. Bruce to Mr. Wood dated Tunis, giving an account of his excursions along the coast of Africa. It exhibits some curious particulars, while it evinces a zeal for the arts which none of the inconveniences nor dangers of travelling in that inhospitable region could abate. We shall make one or two extracts from this letter.

I was sur not living but in çaves

'Here,' (at Gerba, the Meninx of the Lotophagi), prised to find myself among men of a different species, in tents or in mud-walled cottages as the Arabs do, under ground as the Troglodytes of old. Mela says of these that they lived in caves, and fed upon serpents; if he had said,fed together with serpents,and fed upon serpents his description had been just, for there are so many in every habitation, and so familiar, that at each meal they come and pick what falls from the dish, like dogs. Some of them are seven feet in length, but to these people so harmless, that even trod upon accidentally, they do not sting; and there is not any person of the family who will not with their hands lift them out of the way when sleeping, or in any manner troublesome. No persuasion nor reward could induce them to let me carry away one of them,it being universally believed that they are a kind of good angels, whom it would be the highest impropriety, and of the worst consequence to the community, to remove from their dwellings.'

Mr. Bruce travelled by land from Tunis to Gerba, from Gerba to Tripoli, and from Tripoli to Cape Bon (the Promontorium Mercurii) and back again to Tunis. In this journey, during which his constant dwelling was a tent, he delineated numerous vestiges of antiquity, Among these were the ruins of the three principalities in Africa.

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Jol or Julia Cæsarea, the capital of Juba; Certa; and Carthage, the last of which I hope,' says Mr. Bruce, will be found to make a better figure than it does in the accounts of some travellers, who would persuade us there are no traces of that city remaining.'

Mr. Bruce says that the hardships, difficulties, and dangers which he experienced in this journey, were such that nothing would have induced him to repeat it.

Often,' says he, beset with, and constantly in fear of, the wandering Arabs, the most brutal set of barbarous wretches ever I believe, existed; constantly parched with heat or dying with extreme cold, exposed many times to the risk of dying with thirst, though perpetually in view of large quantities of water, equal in saltness to the sea; in the northern parts in constant danger, from tigers, lions, and panthers; in the south afraid of every creature, where the smallest insect is endowed with some noxious quality; scorpions and horned vipers are in such abun dance that of the former thirty-five were killed in and about my tent, an hour after it was pitched."

No. XXIV. is a narrative of Mr. Bruce's journies to Baalbeck and Palmyra. From this we shall extract the following description of Mount Libanus.

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The form of Mount Libanus, as seen from the plain of Beleka,' (the Colo-Syria of the ancients) is this; first a ridge of mountains extremely proper for culture, and of no considerable height, sloping easily to the plain, and covered with trees that are not very thickly planted; on the other side of these rises a chain of mountains of an extraordinary height, bare for the most part and stony, cut in every direction by deep rain, and covered with snow, unless in the summer. Thus they continue till they descend much more steeply on the other side towards the sea. The vallies within these high chains of mountains, which on one side run parallel to the sea-coast, and on the other form the east side of the plain of Beleka, are mostlý narrow, but abundantly fertile, were they in the hands of better people, under a better government; industry being always here followed by oppression.'

Of the twelve drawings which Mr. Bruce made of Palmyra and four of Baalbeck, he says in a confidential letter to Mr. Stranger they are by much the most magnificent views that have ever appeared. Every drawing has been purchased by the risk of my life; for we were on returning saved from assassination as by a miracle.' No. XXVII. which is a letter, supposed to be written by Mr. R. Wood, from Gondar in Abyssinia, gives the earliest account of Mr.

.

Bruce's journey into that country. It contains a succinct description of his route from Cairo to Gondar, interspersed with some interesting particulars. No. XXVIII. contains various letters, principally, recommendatory which were written in favour of Mr. Bruce, by Metical Aga, prime minister to the sheriffe of Mecca; by Bajarand Jauni,' deputy governor to Ras Michael, by Imail king of Sennaar, and by Shekh Adelar, vizier to the king of Sennaar. We shall extract one of these letters as a curious specimen of the eastern epistolary style. It is from Shekh Adelar to Ali Bey, announcing the departure of Mr. Bruce from Sennaar to Egypt, 1772.

In the name of the most merciful God, the Lord of both worlds, blessing and 'peace be upon our Lord Mahommed, his family and friends, the supporters, who are majestic, pure, illustrious, and radiant. [The seal with the inscription on it above-mentioned] May it come with the sprinkling dew of perfume, scented with ambergris and odours, to the presence excelling in bounty, that speaks virtue and piety, the fountain of excellence and perfections, the spring of honours and favors, the horse that first reaches the goal, the chief of the masters of exalted eloquence, whose way of life increases his power, the drawn sword of God over every commander, and the arrow of prudence over every conqueror. So be it. resplendent majesty, the chief of the chiefs of Cairo (Messir al Cahira) may God exalt his high rank, and make. the backs of his ene mies the place of his sword; may the arrows of his troops never forsake his flying enemies, and the armies of his terror be in their dejected hearts; may the bridle of his firm purpose train them to obedience, and the wisdom of his policy tame all their skill.

The

"The Shekh super-excellent and illustrious, glorious in his benefits to all mankind, bright in the love of his heart towards the explainers of what is dark, the prince of the city of Cairo the fortified, may God make the tree of peace flourish in his heart! Omir Allawat, the Sanjack Ali Bey, God is with him, Amen. Your friend Shekh Adelan salutes you with exceeding peace, and prays for an increase of your power and honour, Next. What calls us to the intercourse of these letters, and the cause of our composing them is, that your servant, El Hattim Yagoube, came to us from the land of Habbesh with letters from the Sultan of Mecca and Metical Aga, and letters also from the Sultan of Habbesh, that we should treat with kindness and civilities, and forward him speedily on his way to your presence; and we desired him to stay until we might be beneficient to him, but he refused and would not, fearing blame from you and your authority over all. So he is gone from us to seek you, with friendship and peace, and we hope that he will obtain his desire from those that know what is hid, in order that your friendship may be fully established towards us, and that you may be joined to us more nearly,

and that amity may be between our house and your house; and let us not be deprived of letters from you, for correspondence is half an . interview.

No. XXXIX. contains two letters from Dr. Blair to Mr. Bruce; in the first of which there are some judicious observations on the travels of Mr. B. The following remark, with respect to the appearances of egotism which there are in that work, seem sensible and discriminating.

With regard,' says the Doctor, to your being so much the hero of your own tale, which all the petty critics will be laying hold of, this is what I find not the least fault with. On the contrary, I have been always of opinion, that the personal adventures of a tra veller in a strange country, are not only the most entertaining, but among the most instructive parts of the work, and let us more into the manners and circumstances of the country, than any informa tion and general observation can give us.'

No. XLIV. is a short but apparently copious account of the Abyssinian court and government. The civil list of the Abyssinian court hardly appears to yield to those of Europe in the variety or frivolity of the appointments. We shall extract a few particulars of the domestic establishment of Abyssinian royalty.

"The Serach Maseri, or chamberlain, who sets the crown on the king's head, sees his apartments properly ordered, and awakens him early in the morning, by his servants cracking their whips around his tent or palace.'

'The Hazgue or Lik Magwass, who has the charge of the king's mule, an office of great honour. The Negus rides usually on that animal, making a point never to alight while out of doors, except on extraordinary occasions. He even rides into the presence chamber to the foot of his throne,'

All the household officers were formerly created in pairs, one for the right hand, and another for the left."

፡ The king usually appointed two Bahwudels, each of whom was his lieutenant-general over half the troops in the kingdom. The word signifies the only gate, or by him alone the gate, as the army had access to the sovereign through the medium of this officer only.'

In a full council of the nation, or business of importance, the king sits in an alcove adjoining to the council room, behind a laťtice called shekshek. An officer, called the Af-negus, or mouth of the king, carries to him the deliberations, and receives his answers,