rye or tobacco; and the plains for that of wheat, neceffary for the fupport of their inhabitants. Although the Bekaa produces moft abundant crops, they are neverthelefs obliged to import a large quantity to fupply the ordinary confumption.

But the principal riches of thefe mountains are its mulberry trees, which are every where cultivated with the greatest fuccefs.At the latter end of Autumn they lop off all their branches, which, in the fpring following, fhoot out with a profufion of tender fucculent leaves, on which the filkworm feeds with rapacity.-In the interior parts of thefe mountains this valuable infect is nurtured within doors; but in the territory of Baruth in the open air, under fheds, covered with briars and brambles; the only care neceffary is cleanliness. This occupation belongs to the woman.-As they do not hatch before the end of the rainy season, and when thunder is no more heard, their general increafe is prodigious.-Thofe brought up under the fhelter of a good houfe produce yellow filk; thofe under the fheds, white. The annual products are all collected by and in the month of Auguft; and in a divan or council, where the emir prefides, the price of the filk is fixed, according to its plenty or fcarcity and the demand of foreign markets. The price ftated regulates the payment of thofe duties which the cultivator owes to the emir, or to his refpective cheik, and which they pay, at their option, either in kind or money.-The public market is afterwards opened at Baruth, where the French merchants, eftablished at Sidon, either go or fend brokers to execute their committions,

"The produce of filk is amply fufficient to pay the miri to the Grand Signior; to purchafe rice and linens from Egypt, which are abfolute neceffaries; and to procure to the happy inhabitants, of thefe mountains, the feveral articles of pleafure and convenience with which they are fupplied by the French.

"When the harvest of filk is over, the women employ themfelves in fpinning cotton and raw filk, the latt is fent into Egypt, the former ferves to make coarfe linens and dimities for common ufe. - This is alfo a branch of induftry which contributes to the enjoyments of the inhabitants of thefe mountains.

"The Drufes are a very numerous people; the tranquillity which they enjoy, joined to the beauty and temperature of their climate, attract, in crowds, the Chriftians of Syria, who fly from the tyranny of the pachas.-This nation can with eafe raife 50,000 men, tolerably capable of undertaking the defence of their mountains and defiles. But this militia, affembled in hatte, and without any kind of difcipline, never atchieved any thing glorious whenever they left their mountains to defcend into the plains, where the little order they obferve gives too great an advantage to the cavalry of their ene mies.

"Thefe armies are never any expence to the emir; either the hope of pillage engages them to follow their leaders, or critical circumftances, fuch as the danger of the ftate, induce them to take up arms for the defence of their country. They then convoke the general affembly of the flate: every cheik, whether Drufe or Chriftian, is obliged to repair to

the

the rendezvous, at the head of the young men of their refpective villages. The Chiefs only are on horfeback. Every one comes armed with a mufket, a battle axe, a fabre, and a pair of piftols, and it is understood that he is to furnish himfelf with powder, ball, and provifions.-They encamp in the defiles through which the enemy may penetrate, and have a great advantage by the agility with which they climb the mountains, and their knowledge of the paths and remote paffes—Their provifions are but little incumbrance; they confift of bread and cheefe, only, which every foldier carrics in a final leathern bag hung to his fide.These numerous armies keep the field only a few days, as they are never called together till the near approach of the enemy.

"The manner of affembling them is fufficiently fingular to merit being related. The emir fends heralds to all the villages, in which they cry-"Honour calls you!" He who haftens not at the found of his voice is a man without honour. At this proclamation all the women of the village affemble in the market-place, and, to encourage the young men to fly to the defence of their country, they demand arms for the fame purpose.

"The right of afylum is facred amongst the Drufes.-A man purfued by the vengeance of government, if he can reach the mountains, is fure of his life; neither promifes nor threats can force a culprit from the hands of an emir, or cheik, who has promised him his protection.

to lay in fuch a stock of provisions as is neceffary for the current year; and, when an unexpected guest arrives to fhare with them, atter his departure they take care to diminish their daily confumption, till by oeconomy, they have recovered what they had expended.

"Their provifions confift, in general, of burgoo, wheat boiled, and afterwards dried in the fun, with which they make foup; a fat theep, which they cut in very fmall pieces and preferve in butter, after having roasted it quite brown and crifp. They make much use of pillaw (rice baked with butter or fat), but above all of eggs, which they drefs whole, between two plates, or dishes, and which they call maklabaid - The utenfil they make ufe of is very fingular: it is a difh made of cows-dung kneaded with earth. The more it has been used the more it is held in eftimation. Amongst the furniture, which compofs the mariage fortune of the girls, a dish of this kind is never wanting.

"To thefe effential provifions they add rice, greens, honey, and dried fruits.-They feldom eat fresh meat, as their country do s not abound in pafturage for the nourifliment of their flocks.

"In thofe villages where firewood is fcarce, it is cuftomary to fupply the want of it by the dung of their domestic animals, and the truddles of their goats, which they knead up with their straw.

"Every houfe makes its own bread; the oven is a great earthen veffel, in which they light a fire. When it is hot, they apply to its inner edge, with a little leathern bag, a very thin cake of dough, which is baked in an instant; but this bread is good only when treth.

"The marriage of the Drufes,

like that of the Turks, is merely civil; they contract in the fame manner and under the fame conditions. The cadi, or judge of the place draws up a deed, in which is fpecified, firft, the dower which the hutband gives his wife, then the fum he is to receive in cafe of her death or repudiation.

"The Drules carry their precautions and jealoufies to greater lengths than the other people of the Eaft.-Their wives live very ret red even their nearest relations are excluded from their fociety. They cannot legally be feen but by their fathers, brothers, and children :- Even a brother is not permitted frequently to vilit his brother's wife. And, fhould it be proved that a girl had been deficient in her duty, fhe would find no mercy: fhe must be facrificed to the honour of her family.

"The Drules apparently profefs, but in their hearts deteft, Mahometanifm. Interet obliges them to keep well with the Turkifh government and the established religion; this forces them to have recourfe to diffimulation, which may prove advantageous to them, and which their principles do not confider as illegal.

"To judge of them by their conduct with refpest to the Chrif

tians, we might be induced to believe they were not averfe to Christianity; but in their hearts they abhor its dogmas and doctrines. The apparent refpect they fhow them proceeds from their indifference for all religions, which they equally reprobate; without endeavouring to accelerate the time fixed by deniny for their total deftruction.

"The Chriftians enjoy amongst them the mott perfect tranquillity; and there are more Chriftians, at prefeut, in their principality, than Drufes. They are both governed by the fame laws, and enjoy the fame privileges.

"The emirs have more confidence in the Chriftians than in the Drufes themselves; it is from among them they chufe their stewards, their guards, and their dometic fervants. To them they entrust the education of their children.-For thefe reafons, the greateft part of the emirs, in fecret, profefs Chriftianity. The reigning emir Juffef is faid to be a Christian.

The Drufes have more than once fhewn their difcontent at the afcendance which the Chriftians have obtained in their mountains; but, being no longer the ftrongeft, they are obliged to fupprefs their refent

"T

RAGEDY, the fong of the goat, and Comedy, the fong of the village, fufficiently indicate, by the meannefs of their ancient name, the humility of their first original. They arofe amidst the facrifices and joyous festivity of the vintage, in a country which feldom adopted the amusements, any more than the arts and inftitutions, of others, but which was defined to communicate her own to all the civilifed portion of mankind. During the entertainments of a feafon peculiarly dedicated to recreation and pleasure, the fufceptible minds of the Greeks naturally yielded to two propenfities congenial to men in fuch circumstances, a difpofition to exercife their fenfibility, and a defire to amufe their fancy. Availing himfelf of the former, the fublime genius of Æfchylus improved the fong of the goat into a regular dramatic poem, agreeing with the Iliad and Odyffey in thofe unalterable rules of defign and execution which are effential to the perfection of every literary performance, yet differing from thofe immortal archetypes of art, in a circumftance naturally fuggefted by the occafion for which tragedies were compofed. It had been ufual with the Athenians, when they celebrated in the spring and autumn the great feftivals of Bacchus, to perfonate the exploits and

fables handed down by immemorial tradition concerning that bountiful divinity; this imitation was confidered as a mark of gratitude due to the beneficence of the God, to whofe honours they aflociated the kindred worship of Pan, Silenus, and their attendant fawns and fatyrs. When Efchylus reprefented, therefore, instead of fimply reciting, the real hiftory, or agreeable fictions of antiquity, he only adopted a mode of imitation already practifed in the religious ceremonies of his country; a mode of imitation more powerful than the epic, fince, initead of barely defcribing the deeds of gods and heroes, it fhews thofe ditinguifhed perfonages on the fcene, makes them fpeak and act for themfelves, and thus approaching nearer to reality, is ftill more for cible and affecting.

"As tragedy was introduced in imitation of the more serious spectacles of the Dionyfian feftival, fo comedy, which foon followed it, was owing to the more light and ludicrous parts of that folemnity. Tragedy, in the imitation of an important and ferious action, adapted to effect the fenfibility of the fpectators, and to gratify their natural propenfity to fear, to weep, and to wonder. Comedy is the imitation of a light and ludicrous action, adapted to amufe the fancy, and to gratify the natural difpofition

of

of men to laughter and merriment. Terror and pity have in all ages been regarded as the main fprings of tragedy, becaufe the laws of fenfibility, founded folely in nature, are always the fame. Comedy has been infinitely varied by the innumerable modes of wit, humour, and ridicule, which prevail in different ages and countries, and which agree fcarcely in any one particular, unlefs it may be reckoned an agreement, that men have feldom indulged them, except at the expence of their good-nature, and often of their virtue. The Grecian comedy was uncommonly licentious; the profligate characters of Ariftophanes and his contemporaries, Mnefilochus, Callias, Eupolis, and Cratenus, contributed, doubtlefs, to this deformity; yet thefe poets could not eafily have rendered their new entertainment agreeable to the tale and prejudices of the public, without incorporat ing in them the fubftance of the phallic fongs, which constituted an ancient and effential part of the amufements of the vintage. The fond admirers of antiquity have defended the abominable trains of thefe licentious poets, by pretending, that their intention was to reform vice, not to recommend it; an apology which, if admitted, might tend to exculpate the-writers, but could never justify their performances, fince it is known by experience, that lewd defcriptions prove a poifon rather than a remedy; and inftead of correcting manners, tend only to corrupt

them.

"Befides the general licentiaufnefs of the ancient comedy, its more particular characteristics re fulted from the peculiar circumftances of the Athenians, during the time of its introduction and

continuance. The people of all ranks at Athens were then too deeply engaged in the military and political tranfactions of their coun try, to enjoy any amufement which did not either directly flatter their paffions, or bear an immediate relation to the great and important interefts of the republic. It was during the confufion and calamities of the Peloponnefian war, that all the comic pieces which remain were originally reprefented = a period too diforderly and tumultuous to relifh comedies, fuch as are now written, or fuch as were compoted in Greece by Menander, in an age of greater moderation and tranquillity. The elegant and ingenious, the moral and inftructive trains of Moliere or Menander, may amufe the idleness of wealth, and the fecurity of peace. But amidst the fermentation of war and danger, amidst civil diffenfions and foreign invafions, the minds of men are too little at cafe to enjoy fuch refined and delicate beauties which then appear lifeless and infipid. In fuch turbulent circumftances, the reluctant attention must be excited by real, instead of imaginary characters; by a true instead of a fictitious event; by direct and particular advice concerning the actual fiate of their affairs, instead of vague or abstract leffons of wisdom and virtue. Coarfe buffoonery may often force them to laugh; delicate ridicule will feldom engage them to fmile; they may be affected by the fharpness of perfonal invective, but will remain impenetrable to the fhafts of general fatire,

"By combining the different parts of this defcription, we may form a tolerably exact notion of the writings of Ariftophanes, which commonly conceal, under a thin

alle