we do not, as in France, call him an original. But I have spun out these remarks to a greater length than I intended. I will, therefore, now conclude with giving a brief account of M. Cazotte, the real author of the first chapter of the first Morland, and of the whole of the fourth volume, or the second Morland.

M. Jaques Cazotte, author of the poem "D'Oli99 66 Le vier," the tales of "Le Diable Amoureux, Lord impromptu, "and of several other small pieces, was, prior to the Revolution, long celebrated in the Parisian circles as a witty and pleasing member of society. M. de la Harpe, in speaking of him, says "he had an original turn of mind, and an infatuation with the reveries of the Illuminati ;" of this his "Diable Amoureux" is a strong proof; but the most singular circumstance recorded of him, is a very remarkable prophecy that he is said to have uttered, in which he foretold not only the deaths of several of the great atheistical philosophers, his friends, but likewise his own; and, strange to say, every part of his predictions was verified! (For an account of this-vide "Œuvres choisis et posthumes de M. de la Harpe," or "Literary Panorama" No. 1., or "Calcutta Magazine" No. 5, in each of these it is detailed.)

When the Revolution broke out in 1792, he was arrested and thrown into prison ;-all the horrors of which, an amiable daughter of only seventeen

years of age, insisted on sharing, and most dutifully attended him through his imprisonment, never quitting his side for a single moment.

In the horrible massacres of September he was led out to execution; but at the instant when the fatal engine was about to fall on his neck, his daughter threw herself over his body, exclaiming -before you spill one drop of my father's blood, you must first take mine!" So affecting a scene touched even the callous hearts of Parisian executioners; and subdued by the sight of a lovely girl offering to immolate herself to save her venerable parent, they, with one impulse, resolved to spare his life, and demanded to know his enemies, that they might revenge him on them; but Cazotte magnanimously replied " I cannot have any, for I never did harm to any one." The impression made on these savage cut-throats was, however, but transitory. He was reconducted with his heroic daughter to prison, and before the month was elapsed, again led to the scaffold, and, in spite of her prayers and piercing shrieks, was inhumanly murdered before her eyes!

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It is remarkably singular that M. de Sombreuil, who was of the same age, seventy-four, was saved on the same day, at the same prison, in a precisely similar manner by his daughter; and horrible to relate,he afterwards underwent the same cruel fate! L'Abbé de Lille, in his poem of "Le Malheur et

la Pitié," thus beautifully alludes to Cazotte and Sombreuil :

"Cependant au milieu de tant de barbarie,

Lorsque, parmi les maux de ma triste patrie,
La timide Pitié n'osait lever la voix,
Des rayons de vertus ont brillé quelquefois :
On a vu des enfans s'immoler à leurs pères,
Des frères disputer le trépas à leurs frères.—
Que dis-je ? Quand Septembre, aux Français si fatal,
Du massacre partout donnait l'affreux signal,
On a vu les bourreaux, fatigués de carnage,
Aux cris de la Pitié laisser fléchir leur rage,
Rendre à la fille en pleurs un père malheureux,
Et, tout couverts de sang, s'attendrir avec eux."

CATCHING SPARROWS IN THE VALLEY OF
CAZAROON.

SIR,-Looking over my papers the other day, I found, among some manuscripts written by the late Capt. J. R, (who died on his passage to Bencoolen, when proceeding to take the command of the forces of that place, by order of the Supreme Government,) the accompanying rough copy of a letter to Sir William Jones. Should the concise account it contains of the Valley of Cazaroon, between Abusheer and Shiraz, and the curious mode detailed in it of destroying the flocks of sparrows which infest the fields of corn in that

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part of the country, appear of sufficient moment or interest to communicate to your readers, it is at your service. PERSICUS.

TO SIR WILLIAM JONES.

SIR, AS I have never seen a description of the very curious method of catching sparrows in the Valley of Cazaroon, I have extracted from the observations made during my stay there the following account, which, being very short, the perusal of it may not perhaps take up too much of your time.

The valley of Cazaroon, in the middle of which, the capital of the district of the same name is situated, lies half way between Abusheer and Shiraz;-it is from five to seven miles broad, and about fifty-six long. Two ranges of hills of immense height run along the south-west and northeast sides of it; and springs from the latter, which is by much the highest, supply great plenty of water for all the purposes of cultivation; and the climate being temperate, fine crops of wheat and barley are produced in the highest, and rice in the lowest, parts of the valley.

In the middle of June I arrived there, and was the next morning carried by Hajy Khuleel, an eminent merchant of Abusheer, to see what he thought the most extraordinary thing he had met with, the catching of sparrows; which he said were so numerous in the district, that were it not

for a poor family, who had the art of catching many hundreds of them daily, not one grain of their wheat and barley would be left for the support of the inhabitants.

The catching of sparrows appearing to me a puerile entertainment, I smiled at the idea, but as he persisted in assuring me that there was something uncommon and curious in the mode of doing it, I was prevailed on to accompany him.

At the distance of a mile and a quarter from Cazaroon, I saw a poor creature sitting down with a rope in his hand, who, I was told, was the birdcatcher. On looking round, I found that he had stuck up poles about ten feet high with bits of old rag at the top of each, round a piece of ground of four or five acres ;-these poles were distant forty or fifty feet from each other, and were so placed as to form a long square, at one end of which sat the bird-catcher. The rope in his hand was about

;

yards long. He had hold of one end, and the other was fastened to the corner of a net of twenty feet long, and two feet nine inches broad the lower corners were fixed to pegs in the ground, and one of the upper ones to a rope held by the bird-catcher, as I have before mentioned, the other to a rope of fifteen feet long fixed to a peg. This last rope was slack enough to admit of the net being laid flat on the ground. On either side a small and light pole was fixed, and laid horizontally along the top of the net, in order to enable