is already established, we shall content. ourselves with extracting a few articles as specimens of the style, (which ought to have been improved) while they may communicate to our readers some of that amusement which arises from inspecting the manners of the cast. The following is connected with the history and reputation of our country. Inkitar or Angitar, an Englishman. This is the name which the Arabian historians of the Crusades have given to Richard, Cœur de Lion, King of England, famous among them for his heroic achievements, but particularly on account of the truce for which the Great Saladin was obliged to sue. One of the articles of this treaty was a marriage between Maleku' l'Adil, brother to Saladin, and the Queen of Sicily, sister to Richard; which, however, did not take place, the bishops of England insisting that the Saracen prince should become a Christian, which could not be complied with. Of this anecdote, Madame Cottin has lately taken advantage, to compose an interesting novel: but she has thought proper to deviate from the truth of history in her character of the Arabian lover and his English mistress; no less than in her general conduct of the story. As we have often in our younger days, wished for a rencontre with a troop of fairies, we feel a pleasure in tracing their history: meaning, nevertheless inflexibly to insist, that, however beautiful or benevolent, those of Persia may be, our British fairies infinitely surpass them. Pari, a good genius, a beautiful species of imaginary creature, neither man, woman, angel, nor devil; but answering, in many respects, to that beneficent little being to whom our ancestors paid so much attention, called the Fairy; which, from the resemblance of the name, and many other circumstances, was in all probability, of eastern extraction. The old romances of Arabia and Persia allot them, a particular country called Jinnistan [Paristan?] where they live upon perfume alone; and conceive them to be so extremely beautiful, that they call a lovely woman Purizadah, born of the Paris," the name of the second daughter of Darius, whom the Grecks have called Parisatis; corrupting in the same manner Sitarah (a star) into Statira, and Roshan (splendor) into Roxana. The Devas or Dews, Jins or Genii, are another species of ideal beings, but the reverse of the Paris, being ugly, malignant, and perpetually at war with them, and with mankind, whom the Paris are supposed constantly to protect. These two classes of supernatural creatures form great part of the machinery of eastern poetry, fable and romance, and give a most fanciful and extended field to luxuriant imaginations. The descriptions of the Persian months, the festivals observed in them, and their presiding angels, is an extremely curious article. The whole of it is too long for transcription; but we cannot resist the temptation of extracting a few paragraphs. We are informed, that the ancient Persians did not measure the subdivisions of their months by weeks, but gave a particular name to every day in the month, and to every month in the year, which they adopted from certain angels, supposed to preside over, and to influence, all the actions of those periods, committed by Omnipotence to their care. The presidents of the months were regarded as a superior class to the rulers of the days. It was considered as a high disrespect to address to one angel the prayer proper to the day of another. The first month of the Persian year commenced, from high antiquity, at the vernal equinox, and was formerly named, together with its angel, Fire: but the sultan, Jalal' ud' din, about the end of the eleventh century, reformed the Persian computation of time, and transposed the places of the months, no less than half a year, in the calendar. Farwardin, (March,) is so named from an angel supposed to be treasurer of Paradise. On the first of this month, new year's day, began the principal festival among the Per sians, which lasted six days. On the eve of the new year, a young man of elegant figure, personating the new year, was stationed at the door of the royal bed-chamber, which he entered without ceremony, the moment the sun appeared above the horizon. The King immediately addressing him, said, "What "art thou? Whence dost thou come? "Whither dost thou go? What is thy "name? Wherefore dost thou approach? "What dost thou bring?" To which he answered; " I am the fortunate and the "blessed I am sent hither by God, and "bring with me the new year:" then sitting down, another appeared with a large silver dish, in which were wheat, barley, pease, vetches, sesamé, and rice, (seven ears and nine grains of each) with a lump of sugar, and two new-coined pieces of gold, which, as an offering, were placed before the king. Then entered the prime minister, the general of the forces, the lord high treasurer, and the superintendant of war: after whom, followed the nobles and people, according to their dignity and respective classes. A large loaf, made of the above-mentioned grains, being then presented to the king; after eating part of it, he offered some to those who were around him, saying "This is the new day, "of the new inonth, of the new year, of "new time: when all things consistent "with time must be renewed." Then investing his nobles with rich robes, he blessed and distributed among them the presents which had been brought. Such were the ceremonies of the Persian new year, at court. At the Autumnal equinox they were not wholly unlike, though somewhat differently conducted. The angel of the month Mihr (September) was supposed to be the intelligence which regulated the sun, and to preside over love and friendship. On the 16th, being this angel's particular day, began one of their greatest festivals called Mihrgan. The king on the first day of this festival, after anointing himself with the oil of Ban, [as did all of his subjects who could procure it] dressed in a superb robe of many colours, his head adorned with the royal taj, (diadem) on which was a splendid figure of the Sun, seated himself on his throne; when the high priest entering alone, with a large silver dish, filled with sugar, peaches, quinces, apples, citrons, pomegranates, the jujube, the lote, a bunch of white grapes, and seven myrtle berries, muttered over them a prayer, and presented them to the king, who eat of them all; after which the nobility and others approaching according to their rank, followed the sovereign's example; when a variety of robes and other rich furniture, from the royal ward-robes, were distributed amongst them in proportion to their degree. On this day, it was esteemed fortunate to wean or name children; and if a son was then born to the king, he was immediately, with great solemnity, consecrated high priest of the Sun, Murdad (July). This angel was one of the reputed guardians of trees, herbs, fruits, and seeds. Murdad, amongst other attributes, is supposed to be the presiding angel of winter; but that must, apparently, have been when his month (now July) corresponded with November, for the same reason the ridiculous parade of rakub' ul Kusaj or Kusah nishin (the procession of Kusah) mentioned to have been celebrated in the month Azur, must apply to it, when coinciding with the vernal equinox. This festival, however whimsical it may appear to us, was solemnized in Persia, by all ranks, from the prince to the peasant. An old toothless, beardless, figure, representing winter in his departure, was mounted on a mule or ass. He was generally some poor buffoon, (if one eyed so much the better), who, by ludicrous gesticulations afforded much mirth to the people; some sprinkling him with warm water and giving him hot victuals, whilst others were drenching him with cold; Kusah all the while fanning himself, and exclaiming, garma! gurma O heat! heat! He had a crow in one hand, and a fan or scourge in the other, and was attended even by the family of the King, or of the governor of the city, who accompanied him on horseback through the whole of the fantastic ceremony. In this manner he paraded the streets, entering the house of every nobleman, who was oblig ed to give him a piece of money, if he did not wish to have his clothes bedawbed with a piece of red clay, which, dissolved in water, he carried by his side, in a little carthen vessel. He then went into every shop, the owners of which took especial care to have their money ready, for a moment's delay gave Kusah a right to seize all that was in them. Whatever was thus collected before the first prayers, became the property of the king, if in the metropolis, or of the governor in any other city; but from that hour until the second prayer, the receipts were reserved by Kusah, himself, who then suddenly disappeared; for if this representative of Winter was found in public after that time, any person might beat him with impunity. On the same grounds, we must place in the month of April, another festival of a more dignified nature, which they celebrated anciently on the 8th of the month Day, (December), called Khurm roz (cheerful day); when according to the Earhangi Jahanzuri, and other authors, the King of Persia clothed in white robes, descended from his throne, and seating himself on a white carpet, the sarapardah (or veil before the royal throne) was thrown open, and all his subjects, were admitted to his presence. The husbandmen were treated with particular respect, some of their chiefs dining at the same table with their sovereign, when he addressed them in the following strain: I am one of you; my subsistence, and that of my people rests on the labour of your hands; the "succession of the race of man depends upon "the plough; without you we cannot exist ; "but your dependence upon me is recipro "cal; we ought, therefore, to be brothers, "and to live in perpetual harmony." We cannot possibly be displeased with the attention paid by the Sovereign to husbandry, or husbandmen; but we confess, that the following custom affects us still more closely. We have, indeed, heard in our own country of privileges appertaining to the ladies in leap-year, in the choice of their lovers; but it seems, that in Persia every year has leap-year-privilege; though restricted to one month, and to one day of that month: but then, in revenge, it extends to married women, as well as to maidens; and includes husbands, as well as bachelors, under its dominion. Sapandarmuz (February XIIth month). To this angel they assigned the care of the earthly globe, and also the guardianship of virtuous women; in consequence of which, the fifth, his peculiar day, was considered as highly auspicious to every circumstance relative to marriage, One of the names of this day, was, Mard giran (taking or governing men); founded, as they say, upon a custom which prevailed in ancient times of vesting the ladies upon that day with despotic power, the husbands paying an implicit obedience to the most arbitrary commands of their wives; whilst the virgins, in their respective classes, had the singular privilege of choosing for themselves a husband from among the unmarried part of the male sex; who, they say, had too high a respect for this gallant institution to hesitate a moment in receiving their fair admirers. The pairing of the birds about this season, might possibly have suggested those inducements to matrimony, as well to the west as to the east, Valentine's day, in old times, with some variation of ceremony, bearing a strong resemblance to this Persian festival. Kings of Persia...Mirkond and Khondemir, in their histories, describe them as the most ancient monarchs in the world, their empire being supposed to be founded by Caiumaras, near nine hundred years before the Christian æra. They are divided into four great dynasties or families, called the Pishdadians (legislators), Caianians (great kings), Ashcanians (from Ashek, or Arshek the founder of this race, better known in Europe by the name of Ársacides), and the Sassanians, from Sassan, the father of Ardeshir Babegan, the first king of that family, (whose posterity reigned from the beginning of the third to the middle of the seventh century; when they became extinct by the death of Yezdigird, dethroned by the Arabians under the Khalifat of Omar, who then annexed Persia to the great empire of the Moslems). Under those dynasties are comprehended all the princes known formerly to the Greeks by the appellations of the Assyrian, Chaldean, Babylonian, Median and Persian kings: whilst it may be observed, that the Greeks, as well as the Jews, have frequently mistaken the viceroys, governors, or lieutenants of those ancient monarchs of Persia for the kings themselves; their residence in the provinces nearest to Palestine and Europe having made them better known in the west than their sovereigns. Nebuchadnezzar, Baltazar, Cyrus and Sennecherib, among others, were only governors of Babylonia, and the adjacent districts, under Lohorasb, and other princes of the Caianian dynasty. Mr. Richardson has, in his Dissertation, employed many strong and incon◄ trovertible arguments, in opposition to the tenor of Grecian history, and the reports of Grecian writers, as usually understood. We abandon to his prowess, the numbers included in the army of Xerxes, as reported by Herodotus, and other particulars; but we cannot bring ourselves to suppose that the Jews, who were carried captive from their own land to Persia, where they resided many years, should have "frequently mistaken the viceroys, governors or lieutenants of the ancient monarchy of Persia, for the kings themselves;" without being able to obtain a knowledge of the true character and rank of their captivators; or of the monarch to whom all of them were subjects, and of whom some were commercial agents, and others were official representatives. This sentiment required revision. The unqualified assertion of Mr. R. in his Dissertation, p. xxxix. that, in Hindostan, they positively refuse to believe the important era" of the deluge, should also have been corrected. The imputation of forgery, by which Major Wilford was deceived, never, so far as we know, attached to the pieces translated by Sir W. Jones; and these are undeniably in favour of the history of the deluge, as an event acknowledged in Hindostan. We close our account of this work by an instance of service rendered to Biblical literature. Zarib, one who presides, shakes, and throws the arrows at games of chance. Those arrows were eleven in number, without points or feathers, the first having one notch, the second two, and so progressively to seven; the last four being blanks. They were much in use among the Pagan Arabians, but were prohibited by Mahomet. Such arrows were likewise early in use among the Babylonians, and other Eastern nations. See Ezekiel, xxi. 20. This Dictionary will form two volumes; the second may be expected in about twelve months. The price of the two is twelve guineas: to be paid on delivery of the first, the second will be delivered gratis. The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, A. D. MCLXXXVIII. By Giraldus de Barri; translated into English, and illustrated with Views, Annotations, and a Life of Giraldus, by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. F.R.S. F.A.S. 2 vols Royal Quarto, pp. 850. Price 81. 8s. With a Volume containing the Original Latin 111. 11s. London, Miller, 1806. ALL luxuries, say some of our severer moralists, are injurious in their very nature. Nevertheless, the volumes before us, though they cannot but be reckoned among the greatest literary luxuries of these days of elegance and refinement, have not, we believe, been injurious to any one. To their editor, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, whose labours in translating some parts of them, and in composing other parts, have laid the public under no trivial obligation, their preparation and superintendance must have been a source of agreeable amusement, combining just so much interest as would impart a zest to the undertaking. What can be proposed, as more eligible for a gentleman of taste, skill, and research, of knowledge in history and antiquities, for a man of leisure and fortune, in the intervals of serious occupation, than visits to the most interesting districts of his native island, for the express purpose of illustrating its antient historians? Whatever of health attends a country excursion, whatever of novelty delights the eye by change of scene, whatever of curiosity is gratified by observation of manners, or by inspection of places, unites with the consciousness of having a determinate object in view, to enhance the enjoyments which attend an amateur, in expeditions like those of the worthy Baronet before us. We should not obey the convictions of our minds, if we did not recommend this example to the imitation of our gentry, who without losing an atom of enjoyment in their summer migrations, may ensure the gratitude of the literary world, by the exercise of their inquiries, and the correctness of their observations, The combination of antient history with modern investigation may set many events in a new light, and at the same time assist the inquisitive and the learned, while it furnishes rational amusement to general readers. Many obscure events which embarrass our chronicles, might be elucidated into deci sive authority, at an hundredth part of the expense and labour bestowed on these volumes. The object of the work before us is, to illustrate that zealous itineration of Archbishop Baldwin, in the eleventh century, of which Giraldus de Barri, commonly called Cambrensis, or the Welshman, has left us a history. The editor has accom plished this, by attentively and repeatedly following the same track, so far as the change of roads and circumstances permitted. He has, in fact, surveyed the country, and reports his observations for the satisfaction of the curious. He has spared no pains, nor expense, in the execution of his design, and his volumes must be ranked among the most splendid for typographical appearance, and picturesque embellishment. They contain upwards of thirty respectable engravings of views, from drawings by Sir R. C. H. himself, (another source of delight, most assuredly!) five neatly coloured maps, of great service towards understanding, the subject, besides others on different scales, and more than twenty plates of antiquities of various descriptions, of which a few are selected from the publications of our most eminent antiquaries. The work opens with a life of the author, Giraldus, and an account of his manuscripts extant at Oxford, Cambridge, Lambeth, and in the British Museum. This is succeeded by an introduction to the history of Cambria, prior to A. D. 1188. The object of this dissertation is, the elucidation of the Roman campaigns in Britain, till the entire conquest of the country by that people. Some minor inquiries follow; after which we are presented with the main history, and subject of the performance, the itinerary of Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, through Wales, A. D. 1188, undertaken with design of inducing the natives to assume the holy cross, and assist in recovering the sacred precincts at Jerusalem from their Mohammedan enemies. This is in two books. We have also the description of Wales by Giraldus; and essays, by the editor, on the poetry, architecture, and scenery of the country, with which he has acquired so much intimacy, by repeatedly traversing it. A friend has furnished himal so with transla B tions of two festive effusions by Owain Cyveilioc, prince of Powis; one the "Hirlas," or drinking horn, the other the "Circuits of Wales." In his life of Giraldus, Sir R. C. H. has taken the pardonable liberty of an editor, who, without violating truth, is permitted to place the character of his principal in the most advantageous point of view. He has thought proper to soften some of those harsher particulars, which have been charged as blemishes on the character of this eminent churchman. He also considers the self-commendations which occur in his works, as what might be justified by circumstances under which he wrote, rather than as proofs of overweening vanity, or impertinent hauteur. We partly agree with him: but, we believe that under our present peaceable establishment, we cannot adequately conceive of those jealousies, ambitions, and heartburnings on account of ecclesiastical rivalship, which actuated the clergy in the days of Giraldus. Each was desirous of extending his personal influence, not to call it dominion, and in accomplishing this, each thought he was essentially serving, at the same time, the interests of the church, and the cause of God. This is a principle so seductive, and so deeply seated in human nature, that we cannot suppose its influence is unknown, or unfelt in our own day, however forward in professions of liberality: or, that the present state of religion among us, is such as to preclude every suspicion of the same spirit, though not manifested under the same denomination. A slight sketch of our author's life may shew what were his opportunities of information, and what confidence is due to his narrative. country; where he effected, by the dread of excommunication, a partial reformation in temporalities, and, as he supposed in morals, when he terrified the priests into separation from their wives. He discharged his office with rigour; raised himself many enemies; had much controversy to sustain, and much opposition to overcome. He appears to have been active, indefatigable, prompt; yet, the policy of King Henry, in declining to promote him to eminent stations in the church, was, doubtless, founded in a just estimate of his character, his zeal, and his attachment to the principles of ecclesiastical supre macy. He visited Paris a second time, and describes his popularity in glowing terms. His residence here was long. At his return to Wales, he found the diocese of St. David's in great confusion. He was appointed administrator of all the spiritual and temporal concerns of the church. His fame increasing, King Henry II. induced him to reside at court, appointed him his chaplain, and preceptor to his son John, whom he accompanied to Ireland as secretary, where he refused two bishopricks, and afterwards an archbishoprick. Here he composed a "Topography," and a Conquest of Ireland," which on his return to England he recited before the University of Oxford, on three successive days. "On the first day," says he, " I enter-' tained with hospitality the poor people of the town; on the second, the doctors of the different professions, and the students of the greatest celebrity; and, on the third, the remainder of the scholars, with the burghers and militia of the city. Such a magnificent and sumptuous festival revived the antient times of classic poetry, and was wholly unknown in England either in the past or present age." Giraldus de Barri was descended from a family of rank and importance in Wales. He was born A.D. 1146, at the Castle of Manorbeer, in Pembrokeshire. He seems to have had a natural disposition to litera-highly ture, and he pursued his studies with diligence; he adds, with applause, not only in his native land, but at Paris, where he remained three years, and returned to England in 1172. At this time he entered into holy orders. Directing his attention to the amelioration of the state, and revenues of the church, under a power derived from the archbishop, and as archdeacon, he officially visited his native In the year 1187, King Henry with many of his nobility, engaged themselves in the crusading expedition, at that time highly popular throughout Europe; and Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, was led by this enthusiastic undertaking into Wales, accompanied by Ranulphus de Glanville, Chief Justice of the Realm. The chiefs of Wales met these noble itinerants at Radnor; and notwithstanding the Archbishop and Giraldus could address their auditories, only by the medium of interpreters, yet they induced many Antient Britons to take the |