Holborn Bridge is now invisible, but still remains beneath the paving; and a few years ago, while the sewers were undergoing repair, I saw it completely uncovered. It was built of red brick, with a key-stone, on which was inscribed the date 1678, or it might be 1668, for I cannot quite recollect. At this point the Old Bourne fell into the Fleet River, having its origin near Middle Row: there is a pump yet there, which is probably fed by the same springs. Here the bed of the Fleet causes a very extraordinary declivity on each side, that of Holborn being steepest. Its great inconvenience has given rise to several projects of a viaduct, but none have been carried out, or have any present probability of being so. The continuation by Farringdon Street to Blackfriars Bridge presents no particular feature except the steeps of Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street; but they are both of minor importance when compared to that of Holborn.

From Blackfriars to Holborn is the only portion of which we possess any authentic record of the navigable facilities of the Fleet River, and we may dismiss the traditions of the finding of anchors at St. Pancras or Bagnigge Wells as belonging to a class of untruths put forward to support a theory. Anchors would scarcely have been required, even if the stream had been navigable thus far, but it is very probable that boats of some burthen could have proceeded at one time much further than Holborn Bridge. Every thing favours such an opinion. The first impediments to free navigation were effected by the Priors of St. John of Jerusalem, who erected mills upon the stream; hence the name Turnmill Brook, which is still preserved in Turnmill Street; and flour and flatting mills were turned by its course as late as the beginning of the present century.

It became very early a receptacle for the filth and offal of some manufacturing trades, and in 1307 it was complained, in a parliament held at

Carlisle, that whereas in times past it had borne "ten or twelve ships navies at once, with merchandise, now the same course, by filth of the tanners and such other, was sore decayed," &c. I was surprised to find tanners or fellmongers' pits still close to the Fleet River at the back of Saffron Hill, where they are now pulling down houses for the new street.

The river required frequent cleansing, and was kept navigable after the Fire of London in 1666; but continued encroachments had obstructed the stream; and though in 1589, by authority of the Common Council of London, means were taken to increase its volume by diverting further springs on Hampstead Heath into it, yet the project failed of its purpose. Probably some of the reservoirs were begun at this time, and the springs at the Vale of Health so diverted. But, however, a century ago, it had long degenerated into a muddy ditch, and in 1733, by Act of Parliament, it was covered over from Holborn to Fleet Bridge, and a market erected upon it, which was opened September 30th, 1737. After Blackfriars Bridge was built, in 1765, it became necessary to arch over the remainder, and thus this old nuisance became veiled from the public eye, and sunk into a common sewer-the Cloaca Maxima of the metropolis.

Beside the two bridges alluded to, it was crossed at Bridewell by one of wood, and another of a similar kind at Chick Lane. The wells or springs which it received, and which gave it the name of "The River of Wells," were St. Bride's well, now covered by a pump, the Old-bourne before noticed, Skinner's well, and Clerken, or Clerkes well, interesting in the annals of our drama (the course of the latter is yet marked by Brook Hill), Loder's well, Fagswell, Radwell, and Todwell, (some of these were, even in Stowe's time, filled up and decayed,) also Chad's well in Gray's Inn Lane, as well as others of less note.

J. G. WALLER.

dandyism, is Mr. Keeley in a farce, but not the hero of a mournful epic.

The Kabyles, fair-haired descendants, some of them, of the old Vandals, are as brave but a more treacherous and untameable race than the Arabs. We can only afford one instance out of many. A planter who had married a young Spanish lady, resided some distance from Algiers, on his estate. He had in his employ several Europeans, and three Kabyles. The rudeness of the latter he was goodnaturedly resolved to cure by kind treatment. He even went so far as to allow them to sleep in the house, a stretch of confidence which would have made a Turk turn pale simply to think of-the European planter paid dearly for the hospitality which he thus afforded to "everybody." The three Kabyles got up one night, murdered the German servants, cut the throat of the planter, slaughtered the children, and then made love to the terror-stricken wife. After which, they stripped the house, set it on fire, and complacently returned to their mountains with a cart-load of booty, eight murders on their souls, and the consciousness of a summer profitably spent!

A kind French officer, Captain Rozet, who liked to visit the Kabyle labourers in their huts, once proposed to accompany them on a visit to their mountain homes. They received the proposal with an ironical smile, and on being asked by the Captain if his life would be in danger, only answered with an eagerly-grunted "Ah!" as if the very thought made their mouths water. One of these fellows, whose life was saved through the angel-ministrations of the Sisters of Charity, was asked if those ladies would be in peril if they went among the Kabyles in their homes. "They had better stay where they are," was the very satisfactory reply.

The Moors are the citizens who contrast with the tent-dwelling Arabs. They have accustomed themselves to the presence of the French infidel conquerors, and care for little save peace. The Moorish ladies, too, are said to have witnessed the change of dominion in Algiers with wonderful equanimity, -but this feeling is confined to the ladies of the capital who play loto and drink sherbet, to say nothing of cham

pagne, with officers of the Zouaves, Hussars, and Chasseurs d'Afrique.

The Turks have greatly diminished since the overthrow of the Deys. Of their character it is unnecessary to speak. We have already noticed that the Kuruglis are the offspring of Turkish husbands and Moorish wives, and, of course, pure Turks and pure Moors hate this cross-breed with an intensity worthy of a better provocation. Their hatred is not greater for the Jews, who are much the same here as everywhere -money-worshippers if not money

makers.

The Negroes are the black jewels of this district. Even the slaves among them live in a kind of voluntary servitude under masters whose yoke is really light as gossamer. The females are terribly ugly, and, as a consequence, are the only women who walk about unveiled. Yet Moors have married them, just as English judges have married their cooks, for Moors have no prejudice touching colour and amalgamation. They are proverbially faithful, and brave to boot. "When after the Turkish bombardment the Turkish garrison retreated from the Emperor's fort, the Dey sent a Negro to throw a match into the powder magazine, and thus to blow up the citadel. The black faithfully obeyed the order of his master, and was buried beneath the ruins."

Not the least singular people of this district are the Beni-Mozab, or Mozabites, whom the Rabbis declare to be descendants of Moab, and who are undoubtedly of Jewish descent. Crime is rare among them, and love-making eternal. They "easily fall in love," says Dr. Wagner; and then there ensues something like a scene in a ballet. Elopements follow a proper overture; pursuit follows; village is at feud with village, a general uproar ensues, but peace is at last established by the talebs, or doctors, who enter before the curtain falls, to join hands generally, and spread benediction over the final tableau. It is singular that there is as much dislike among them to be elected to the office of chief as there is among the higher class of city men to be Lord Mayor.

The emigration of the tribe to Africa is accounted for on the ground of the persecution which they endured in the closing period of the Hebrew monarchy.

The Arabs hold of them a tradition respecting an incestuous origin, and biblical Semitic names are common among them, such as Ben-Elam, BenJudah, and others; "and the peculiar exclusion of the Mozabites from the mosques of Algiers, though they are Mahommedans, reminds us of the old law of the Hebrews which excluded Moab from the community of God." The author thus sums up the character of this remarkable people: "Simplicity, frankness, meekness, piety without fanaticism, calmness blended with energy, intelligence, and industrious habits, distinguish this interesting people of the republic of the Desert, which is probably one of the happiest tribes in the world."

The historical portion of the volume is excellently drawn up. We pass over the early incidents and come to the opening of the sixteenth century, at which time Algiers was an independent state, threatened by the Spaniards. A Sicilian renegade, Horuk Barbarossa, was hired to overthrow the Spaniards, and that personage not only did so, but the Algerian government too, murdering all who opposed him, and finally reigning supreme, with a little aid from Turkey, for whose soldiers and pasha Algiers paid tribute, until the office of pasha was abolished and the troops had the right, not only of electing their own Dey (or, uncle), but to recognise in him their legitimate sovereign. This right, and that of murdering their monarchs, they exercised for one hundred and twenty years, until the last and unlucky Dey slapped the French consul's ears with a fan, to punish that functionary for rudely answering him on being asked why Charles X. had not replied to a letter addressed to him by the Dey.

The elections were sometimes attended by much bloodshed, indeed a peaceable election was never known. The details are so atrocious that they seem to have bewildered Mr. Pulszky or Dr. Wagner; for while, at p. 38, he tells us that on one occasion five Deys were elected and murdered in one day, we find, at page 221, that the five have grown into seven, with a warrant that the graves of all are yet to be seen "before the gate Bab al Uad." But, whether five or seven, the consequent difficulty was cleverly got over. As soon as one unhappy

individual had been elected by one half of the soldiery he was murdered by the other, who immediately chose a new Dey, whose throat was instantly cut by the opposing militia, and both parties, Deys elect and actual included, protested against the disregard paid to purity of election. At length, when five, or seven, had thus been sacrificed in the course of one afternoon, the adverse parties consented to a compromise. They agreed to walk in procession to the grand mosque, and to choose the first man whom they saw issuing from its gates. Away they went, and as they came in sight of the building, the most hilarious of cobblers stepped from within, across the portal. They rushed upon him, and made him serious in a minute, by informing him of the greatness to which, "will he, nill he," he was about to be elevated. To decline it was only to lie in the same bed that night with the other Deys, and thereupon the cobbler bethought himself for an instant, contemplated the matter philosophically, and finally stripping off his apron, accepted the brilliant but sharp-edged grandeur that was offered him. The soldiery flung a robe over him, hoisted him on a scarlet cushion, and proclaimed his enthronement through the orthodox voice of the muezzins. The choice turned out a lucky one. Crispin proved to be as good a sovereign as if he had served apprenticeship to that instead of to a huinbler, but, in its way, as useful a calling. "He was one of the best Deys Algeria bad ever seen. He had the five Deys buried close to one another, and built five monuments in their remembrance, in form of five minarets, of oblong slender form, richly ornamented with marble and porcelain. But the French soldiers," it is added, "have greatly defaced those handsome monuments."

One of the greatest mistakes committed by Bourmont after the French conquest (by the way, all idea of

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conquest was solemnly repudiated by the French government,) was in decreeing the expulsion of the Turks. He fancied that the Arabs would be the natural allies of France, and that their resistance was organised by the Turks. It was long before the effects of this error ceased to be felt. The Duke of Rovigo was as unwise with respect to the Moors, imposing cruel

swete wine served thereto;" and at the end of dinner it very naturally reappears with the fruit and cheese. But the great display of vins de liqueur was at bedtime, when in conducting strangers to their chambers they were to be tempted with "juncates, cherys, and pepyns, or else grene ginger comfetts, and swete wynes, ypocrasse, Tyre, mustadell, and bastard bervage of the beste that may be had to the honour and laude of the principall of the house."*

Our ancestors were far more catholic in their taste for wines than the English of the present day. Harrison, the author of the Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicle, boasts that all sorts of wine are to be had in England. "Neither," he adds, "do I mean this of small wines only, as claret, white, red, French, &c. which amount to about fifty-six sorts, according to the number of regions from whence they come: but also of the thirty kinds of Italian, Grecian, Spanish, Canarian, &c. whereof Vernaye, Catipument, Raspis, Muscadell, Romnie, Bastard Tire, Oseie, Capricke, Clareie, and Malmeseie, are not least of all accompted of, because of their strength and value. Furthermore, when these have had their course which nature yeeldeth, sundry sortes of artificial stuffe, as ypocras and wormewood wine, must in like maner succeed in their turnes, beside stale ale and strong beere."

The same authority estimates the wine trade of his time at between 30,000 and 40,000 tons annually imported into the country. The present annual importation of wine is probably about seven millions of gallons. The number of gallons of foreign wines retained for home consumption in the year ending Jan. 5, 1845, was 6,838,684, of which 2,887,501 were Portuguese wines, 2,478,360 were Spanish wines, and 473,789 were French, the rest being Cape, Sicilian, and other sorts.

The average annual consumption of wine by each individual in England was much larger in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than it is at present. In the time of James the First the light wines of France were the ordinary drink of the work

ing-classes of London, and their use has been replaced, not so much by a greater consumption of beer, as by the introduction of the poisonous compound which, under the name of gin, is consumed in England to the extent of some six or seven millions of gallons annually. A well-known law case of King James's time, reported by Coke under the familiar title of the Six Carpenters' Case, illustrates the manners of the lower classes of our countrymen at that period. The six heroes of the story answer the plaintiff's charge of trespass, in breaking his house, by the following plea that the said house, prædicto tempore quo, &c. et diu antea et postea, was a common wine tavern of the said John Vaux, with a common sign of the said house fixed, &c. by force whereof the defendants, prædicto tempore quo, &c. videlicet hora quartâ post meridiem, into the said house, the door thereof being open, did enter, and did then buy and drink a quart of wine, and did then pay for the same." It is stated † that in 1700 the average consumption of wine in England was nearly a gallon a head in the year, whereas it is now less than a fourth of a gallon. In France the consumption of wine is nineteen gallons a head; and in Holland, with moderate duties, the consumption of French wines alone amounts to a gallon a head.

The first check to the large importation of French wines into this country was given, as is well known, by the Methuen treaty, which, by establishing differential duties in favour of Portugal, encouraged the taste for the heady and potent wines of that country, which distinguished the heroes of the last generation, and of the decadence of which we think we see everywhere unmistakeable signs. That treaty, and our present tariff of high duties on wine, were conceived in enmity to the French; we trust it may be one of the fruits of our present close connection and amity with that nation, that we may be able before long to enjoy the more wholesome produce of their vineyards, at prices correspondent to those which our frugal ancestors were anxious to retain.