and streams which so abundantly water the whole, give to this charming spot a character becoming a scene in fairy-land, and render it a fit object for the descriptive powers of an Arabian tale.

Not far from the spot at which we halted to enjoy this enchanting view, was an extensive cemetery, at which we noticed the custom so prevalent among eastern nations of visiting the tombs of their deceased friends. These were formed with great care, and finished with extraordinary neatness; and at the foot of each grave was enclosed a small earthen vessel, in which was planted a sprig of myrtle, regularly watered every day by the mourning friend who visited it. Throughout the whole of this extensive place of burial, we did not observe a single grave to which this token of respect and sorrow was not attached; and, scattered among the tombs in different quarters of the cemetery, we saw from twenty to thirty parties of females, sitting near the honoured remains of some recently lost and deeply regretted relative or friend, and either watering their myrtle plants, or strewing flowers over the green turf that closed upon their heads. This interest

ing office of friends or lovers sorrowing for the dead, is consigned entirely to females; as if from a conviction that their hearts are more susceptible of those tender feelings which the duties of such an office necessarily implies, and their breasts fitter abodes for that pure and affectionate sorrow which is indulged for the loss of those who are dear to us, than the sterner bosoms of men. It is a great advance from savage life to know and to acknow ledge this; and where such an admission of the superior purity. and fidelity of the female heart and character exists, their ultimate advancement to that rank which their sex should hold in social life cannot be altogether hopeless. For this, as for most other blessings, increased knowledge is the most effectual security; when this shall take the place of ignorance, the domestic slavery of women, which now disgraces the East, will disappear as certainly as that abominable slavery of men which for so many years disgraced the name of Christians in the West.'

In all the principal towns of the East, the bazars form a prominent feature.

The bazārs are appropriated each to the sale of its separate class of articles, which is usual, indeed, throughout the Turkish dominions. Those in which the more valuable commodities are vended are generally roofed in, with apertures left to admit light and air, by which means they are kept warm and dry in winter, and shady and cool in summer, considerations of importance to places so constantly thronged, as are these resorts of purchase and sale. The bazārs appeared to us to be all well furnished with the articles of commerce in general requisition here, and the traders seemed to be more wealthy and respectable than the same class of persons in Egypt.

The shops are seldom opened before ten o'clock in the fore noon, and rarely continue open longer than two o'clock in the afternoon, making their period of business, therefore, only four

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hours in the day. The persons who attend in them to serve the customers, under the eye of the master, are well dressed, obliging, and polite; and generally succeed, by their complimentary mode of address and agreeable manners, in inducing their visitors to purchase more of them than they at first intended. On the whole, there is perhaps no part of a modern Turkish or Arabian city, where the pictures of the Arabian tales pass so frequently and completely before the view as in a crowded bazar; and to an observant spectator, it is one of the most agreeable and entertaining rambles that he can take.'

Some of the finest edifices in Damascus appear to be the caravanserais, which are appropriated to the warehousing of goods brought in caravans from various quarters by wholesale merchants. One of these buildings was particularly striking.

The architecture of this was in the finest style of the Saracen order, and might be considered as a specimen of one of the best works of that age in Damascus. It consisted of a spacious court, the entrance to which, from the street, was by a superb gateway of the pointed arch, vaulted and highly ornamented with sculp ture. The court was paved throughout with broad flat stones, smoothly polished and admirably joined together; and in the centre of this stood a large fountain sending forth cooling and agreeable streams; the whole being crowned with a cluster of lofty domes. The masonry of this pile was formed of alternate layers of black and white stone, one of the peculiar features of Saracenic and Turkish taste; the ornaments were profusely rich; and the distribution of light through the domes so well managed that no corner throughout the whole of the building appeared obscure.'

The coffee-houses of Damascus form also a peculiar feature in the scene.

These houses are all large, and conveniently suited to the manners of the people who frequent them. In these there are a great number of attendants, and as the only purpose for which passengers stop at them is to smoke and drink coffee, every visitor who enters is presented with a fresh nargeel, a pipe smoked through water contained in the polished shell of a cocoa-nut, from whence it derives its name, and a cup of coffee, whether he orders it or not, the price of both seldom exceeding five paras of Turkish money, or about an English penny. Many of these coffee-houses are so spacious as to have benches on each side the street, extending for fifty yards in length, and large rooms of the same dimensions within them, with a large boiler of coffee always on the fire, and men constantly employed in roasting and pounding the berry, so as to have the beverage always fresh; it being found that the only certain mode of retaining the pure flavour of the coffee is to roast, pound, and boil it all in quick succession, the roasted berries soon losing their favour if laid by for a day, and

the pounded coffee becoming insipid, even in a few hours. The Arabs of the desert, who are from necessity economical in their use of this article, follow the same process, even if they require only two cups of the liquid, roasting a handful of berries on an iron plate, pounding them in a pestle and mortar while warm, and the instant the water boils, which it will generally do by the time the other preparations are completed, so that no time is lost, putting the pounded powder into it, and suffering it to boil, stirring it at the same time for about a minute or two, when it is poured out to drink. As this beverage is taken without sugar or milk, the slightest difference in the flavour is perceptible; and long experience having shown this to be the best way of preserving it in perfection, it is perhaps worth mentioning in detail, particularly as the use of this article has become so general even in England. Nargeels for smoking are sometimes carried through the less frequented streets, and places where coffee-houses do not abound, and the bearers of them carrying their tobacco in a leathern bag, with a tin vessel of water, the tobacco being always wetted to cool it before the pipe is filled, and lighted charcoal in an iron pan prepare it in a few seconds for the momentary use of a passenger, who takes half-a-dozen whiffs as he walks along, giving a para or a farthing for the pleasure, which their habit of incessant smoking renders a great luxury, after the privation of even half an hour.

In Damascus there are also many houses at which sherbets and other sweet drinks are prepared, cooled with the ice and snow brought down to the city from the summit of Jebel-el-Telj, or the Snowy Mountain, to the south-west of the town, and on the north of the lake of Tiberias. In these shops are a number of large vessels of brass and other mixed metals, with Arabic inscriptions, and various devices cut on them in high relief, and in a beautiful style of workmanship. These are appropriated to contain the iced drinks in large bodies; and smaller ones of metal also are used to drink out of. Skins of iced water, sweetened and perfumed, are also carried through the streets on men's backs, and served to passengers in the street at a para for each draught, which forms an agreeable and a cheap refreshment, of which all classes but the most needy can partake.'

This city of Damascus was built, peopled, and numbered among the first civilized settlements of the world, soon after the epoch of the Deluge, the earliest period of which we possess any history, and at least 3000 years before London existed as a city, or even England was known but as an island inhabited by barbarians. The distance between these cities is now, however, immense London being as much above Damascus in whatever can indicate superior knowledge, superior comfort, and all that can endear and embellish life, as Damascus is to the meanest kraal or village of the African Hottentots. Yet the natural situation of the latter has greater advantages than that of the former; its climate, soil, and water are favourable to the richest productions of the earth; and even in a commercial point of view, its central situation in the T 4

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heart of Syria, with India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Arabia, all accessible by land, and the whole range of the Mediterranean open to any of the ports within less than a hundred miles on the coast, would be a source of great wealth to an active and enterprising people. What, then, has been the leading causes of the inmense difference between the wealth and intelligence of London and those of Damascus ? is a question that naturally forces itself on an enquiring mind: and the answer necessarily is" Education and Freedom."

.And upon these two themes Mr. Buckingham indulges the reader of this volume with a long and very common-place dissertation, evidently extracted from his lucubrations in the Calcutta Journal.

The most interesting portion of this work, which remains to be noticed, is that which describes the singular and romantic solitude of Lady Hester Stanhope. How Mr. Buckingham first obtained the honor of her patronage does not very clearly appear. There is no doubt, however, that he spent eight or nine days under her roof; and perhaps her Ladyship will not be a little surprized to find the minutest particulars of her life exposed to the world by her guest.

It is known to most Englishmen, that Lady Hester Stanhope was a near relative of the late Mr. Pitt; and that, during the latter part of his administration especially, she enjoyed his friendship and confidence in a very high degree. This circumstance necessarily brought her more frequently into the society of the several members of the royal family, of the many distinguished foreigners who then sought an asylum in England, and of the ministerial circles generally, than even her distinguished birth and connections would, without such associations, alone have effected. Her superior understanding and fascinating manners could not fail, under any circumstances, to command a large share of the respect and esteem of those who were brought within their sphere of influence; but, added to the high confidence which she was known to enjoy with the minister of the day, from personal regard as well as near relationship, the influence of these amiable and attractive qualities were, of course, additionally powerful. The necessary consequence of this was the receipt of a large portion of homage from an extended circle, and abundant means of gratify ing all the benevolent wishes, which it must form one of the most delightful prerogatives of power to indulge, that of assisting merit to obtain what its unaided claims would never procure, the distinction and reward it deserved.

The death of Mr. Pitt, in addition to the sorrow which the loss of any near and beloved relative must inflict, was attended with a great, if not a total, change in all the circumstances that had hitherto yielded her great and continued delight. The health of her Ladyship was, about the same time, seriously affected; and the depression of her spirits naturally retarded her recovery. Change

9.

Change of climate, scene, and circumstances, was recommended and adopted. Lady Hester accordingly quitted England for. France, and remained there until the second war with Napoleon; in whose estimation she held so high a place, that every possible facility was granted to her passage through the country, at a period when unusual difficulties impeded the way of almost every foreigner, and of English subjects more especially. Italy became next the sojourn of the illustrious traveller, then Greece, and at last Constantinople. The good effects of these changes of scene and climate, which had been professionally recommended, were every day more visible. Her Ladyship's health and spirits rapidly improved, and the agreeable associations of passing over classic ground, the fine skies of Greece, the glowing beauties of the Turkish capital, or its immediate neighbourhood, from the Dardanelles to the Euxine, including the Hellespont and Bosphorus, the occasional society of many English travellers of distinction then at Constantinople, and the profound respect paid by the Turks to all her wishes, which were as much regarded, indeed, as if they were commands, induced a very natural desire to see more of the country under their dominion before she returned home.

In the course of these further excursions, if hazardous and difficult voyages and travels may be so called, Lady Hester Stanhope visited Egypt, staid some time at Cairo, and was the first, and up to this time, I believe, the only English lady that ever entered the great Pyramids of Gizeh, near the ruins of Memphis. She was also wrecked on the island of Cyprus, from whence herself and attendant were taken off by Captain Hope, then in the Salsette frigate on the Smyrna station. She subsequently made a journey to Palmyra, in company with several English gentlemen, among whom was Mr. Bruce, the heroic deliverer of Lavalette. She visited also Jerusalem, Damascus, Balbeck, and all the principal places of interest in Syria, and at length became so much pleased with the climate, scenery, and character of the people of the country, that she determined to take up her abode in Mount Lebanon for the summer, and on the coast near Sidon for the winter months, as long as she might feel disposed to remain in the East.

Not having visited the summer residence in the mountains, Í am unable to speak of it with any degree of accuracy. I have understood, however, that it was on an elevated part of Lebanon, about midway between the summit and the more woody belt of the middle region, combining a proximity to the snowy parts of the hollows excluded from the sun, and enjoying, at the same time, fresh air, abundant water, and agreeable shade. The winter residence, near the sea, was originally a Greek convent, dedicated to Saint Elias, from whence its name. It being no longer required for its original purpose, it was let at a fixed yearly rent for a residence, and occupied by Lady Hester Stanhope accordingly. In speaking even of this, as it is entirely from recollection, not having made a single note during my stay there, I cannot attempt minute details, but will endeavour to give a general idea as accurately as