vens;

opinion, that they go on full as wise as they come off; I mean, from standing centinel for so many hours. Though many stories are told of people who have enjoyed the privilege of seeing that miraculous opening of the Heaof all which, few have had power to speak their mind, till it was too late, so great was their ecstacy. But one passage, pleasant enough, was once told me by a grave elderly gentlewoman at Costantina, in Barbary. There was, not many years before my time, said she, in this town, a Mulatta wench, belonging to such a great family, (naming one of the best in the town,) who being quite out of love with her woolly locks, and imagining that she wanted nothing to make her thought a pretty girl, but a good head of hair, took her supper in her hand presently after sun-set, and without letting any body into her secret, stole away, and shut herself up in the uppermost apartment in the house, and went upon the watch. She had the good fortune to direct her optics towards the right quarter, the patience to look so long and so steadfastly, till she plainly beheld the beams of celestial glory darting through the amazing chasm in the divided firmament, and the resolution to cry out, with all her might, Ya Rabbi Kubbar Rassi; i. e. O Lord, make my head big! This expression is, figuratively, not improper to pray for a good head of hair. But, unhappily for the poor girl, it seems God was pleased to take her words in the literal sense; for, early in the morning, the neighbours were disturbed by the terrible noise and bawling she made; and they were forced to hasten to her assistance with tools proper to break down the walls about her ears, 'in order to get her head in at the window, it being grown to a monstrous magnitude, bigger in circumference than several bushels; I don't remember exactly how many;

nor am I certain whether she survived her misfortune or - Morgan. Note to Rabadan.

not.

According to Francklin, it is believed, that whatever Moslem die during the month of Ramadan, will most assuredly enter into paradise, because the gates of Heaven then stand open, by command of God.

Tour from Bengal to Persia, p. 136. During the Asciur, the ten days of festive ceremony for Hosein, the Persians believe that the gates of paradise are thrown open, and that all the Moslem who die find immediate admittance. Pietro delle Valle.

And the Good Angel that abandoned her, &c. — P. 149. The Turks also acknowledge guardian angels, but in far greater number than we do; for they say, that God hath appointed threescore and ten angels, though they be invisible, for the guard of every Musulman, and nothing befals any body but what they attribute to them. They have all their several offices, one to guard one member, and another another; one to serve him in such an affair, and another in another. There are, among all these angels, two who are the dictators over the rest; they sit one on the right side, and the other on the left; these they call Kerim Kiatib, that is to say, the merciful scribes. He on the right side, writes down the good actions of the man whom he has in tuition, and the other on the left hand, the bad. They are so merciful, that they spare him if he commit a sin before he goes to sleep, hoping he'll repent; and if he does not repent, repent, they write down, God pardons. They wait when he does his needs, staying for him at the door till he come out, and then

they mark it down; if he does Estig fourillah, that is to say, upon him in all places, except where they let him go alone,

they take him into possession again; wherefore, when the Turks go to the house-of-office, they put the left foot foremost, to the end the angel who registers their sins, may leave them first; and when they come out, they set the right foot before, that the angel who writes down their good works, may have them first under his protection.

Thevenot.

The Tenth Book.

And the Angel that was sent unto me said, Thinkest thou to comprehend the way of the Most High!. Then said I, Yea, my Lord. And he answered me, and said, I am sent to shew thee three ways and to set forth three similitudes before thee; whereof, if thou canst declare me one, I will shew thee also the way that thou desirest to see, and I shall shew thee from whence the wicked heart cometh. And I said, Tell on, my Lord. Then said he unto me, Go thy way, weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past.

ESDRAS ii. 4.