Kirghisians, who now inhabit this steppe to the east of the river Ural, a Nomadic race, who probably knew as little of agriculture as these do. The ancient inhabitants lived principally upon horse flesh, the Kirghisians live on sheep, but the favourite beverage of both the ancient and modern inhabitants is mare's milk, or, as the Tartars call it, kumis, a much esteemed drink, which is made of sour, boiled and unboiled, mare's milk. It is, when it becomes sour, so nourishing and pleasant to the taste, and also so spirituous, that it not only serves for nourishment, and promotes a healthy and fresh appearance and a good constitution, but it also intoxicates, when taken in too great profusion. This steppe is described by Russian travellers as a vast, open and dry plain, with extensive sands, very little fruitful land, and still less wood. It is deficient in good water, but possesses a great number of brackish lakes. The land, therefore, is not cultivated at all, but horses, horned cattle, sheep, and in some places, camels, are in great abundance. One difficulty, however, yet remains, which cannot easily be removed. Both Cazwini and Edrisi make mention of a large sea, called Tehama, which was 250 miles in circumference, the water of which was of a deep green colour, but fragrant and pleasant to drink. In this sea there were many flat fishes, which the Turks (Tartars) relished much, because they considered them as the best means of exciting desire. This sea lay in the southern part of the country, but neither in the Kirghisian steppe itself, or on its borders, do we find in our maps a sea 250 miles in circumference (which, in our measure, make 83 miles, about 415 English miles), but only some inconsiderable brackish lakes, of different sizes. We must here then leave undetermined the situation of this sea.

To the east of Alodcos, or, as this country is generally considered as a subdivision of Uzia, to the east of the Uzians, there wandered in Tartary and Siberia many hordes, such as the Alchazalgi, Altaghazghaz, Charchir, Kaimakia, &c. with whom the Arabians must undoubtedly have been acquainted; partly because many of those hordes were Mahommedans, partly because some of them carried on trade with Siberia, and others, as the Bucharians at present, with India

and China, by which communication the Arabians received commodities from those remote countries. There is scarcely any doubt, but that some of those tribes were, during the middle age, to the trade of eastern and northern Asia, what the Armenians then were, and now are, for that of the northern by way of the Caspian Sea. But let us return to the north, and particularly to Bulgaria.

This people inhabited, to the north of Chazaria, the country near the river Don, where it approaches so nearly to the Volga, that many, as well Byzantine as Arabian writers, have considered the southern part of it as the western branch of the Volga, and thence along the Volga, as long as it takes a western direction, until the river Belaya; for there was situated their capital, Bulgar, upon the left bank of the Volga. So early as the fifth century the Bulgarians began to make incursions into the Roman empire, and on the north side of the Danube and the Black Sea so harrassed the Slavi, that these were compelled to remove farther north to the Dnieper and the Vistula. At last, in the year 679 and 680, they took possession of the country from the Black Sea to Pannonia, or the present Bulgaria; but there remained, notwithstanding, a part of them in their native country, that continued to form a state, although it was much weakened by emigrations, and in consequence oppressed by the Russians, until one of Genghischan's successors, Chan Bathi, who, in the middle of the thirteenth century, in conjunction with several tribes, settled, upon the river Ural, a horde, called by the Tartars" the great," by the Russians," the golden," subdued the kingdom of the Bulgarians, and erected in its stead those of Casan and Astracan.

"The country of the Bulgarians," says Cazwini "is extensive. The evening begins in winter at half-past three o'clock among the Bulgarians and Russians." Alhanchali says, "I testify that the days in their country are in winter hardly of sufficient length to afford time for four solemn prayers and the attendant ceremonies. The inhabited places of the Bulgarian land are conterminous with Roum. They are a numerous people; their city is called Bulgar, a large city, which I do not mean to describe, that I may

not be accused of violating truth." He says, nevertheless, in the introduction, that Bulgar was a small town, which had few possessions, but had been celebrated because it was the capital, and likewise the place for loading and casting anchor in the Volga), for those kingdoms; but the Russians had plundered it in the year 358, together with Atel and Samandar (in the country of the Chazarians), which had greatly diminished its prosperity. Edrisi (in the sixth part of the seventh climate) mentions another town, Babun, which was well fortified, lay upon the summit of a hill, was well built, and had abundance of the necessaries of life; and adds, that to the north of Bulgaria was the mountain Kokaia, beyond which neither man nor beast could live on account of the cold. This mountain Kokaia, in the northern Ural chain between Russia and Siberia, says he in another place (in the ninth part of the fifth climate), was that which surrounded Yajouge and Majougi. Yacuti describes the city Bulgar in the following manner: "It lies in longitude 90° 5′, and in latitude 49° 30', on the shore of the sea Pontus (the Black Sea), is built of pine tree, and has its wall of oak. It is surrounded by Turks. Between this town and Constantinople are two months' journey, and these people make war with those of Constantinople. The length of the day is twenty hours, and of the night four. It is very cold; in summer and winter the ground is covered with snow. It is said, that they are the posterity of those who believed in Hud, and withdrew to the north, where they settled. Teeth are found in the ground which resemble elephants' teeth, and are as white as ivory." Ibn Haucal remarks, that the Bulgarians are a powerful and numerous people, for the most part Christians, and have the same language as the Chazarians, which resembles that of the Turks, and is understood by no others.

We learn from Pallas's Travels in Southern Russia, that there are not far from Simbirsk, on the left side of the Volga, large and magnificent remains of the capital of the Bulgarians, Bulgar or Bicchimova, consisting of towers, mosques, houses, monuments, all of quarry stone and brick. That it must have been a very considerable city, may be concluded from the nu

merous ruins of large buildings which are found there. It is likewise very evident that it must have been a staple town for different kinds of merchandize, and a place of resort for merchants from very remote places, for the monuments indicate that the persons there buried were from provinces to the south of the Caspian Sea. The oldest tombs must have lain there for nearly 1150 years, the latest more than 400. The same may be confirmed by the number of silver coins with Cufic and Arabic inscriptions, which is found there. In the same country, at Tschermtschew, close by a small river, which falls into the Volga, may be seen the yet more ruinous remains of the considerable city Bulymer, first Bulgarian, and afterwards Tartarian, in whose site now stands the small town of Biljærsk.

Thus far did the certain acquaintance of the Arabians with the countries of the north reach. Thus far they frequently came themselves, and could therefore see and hear of whatever was most remarkable in the countries which they travelled through; but they seldom or never went farther; this is affirmed by Ibn Haucal, and sufficiently proved from the accounts of the countries to the north of Bulgaria, which are more or less imperfect and fabulous on account of their distance. It is seen, however, from the embassy of Ibn Fodelan to the Slavonian country in the tenth century, during which, as we shall afterwards see, he lived among the Russians some time, that Ibn Haucal's confession holds good only with regard to the more ancient times, probably before the Varegians came to the government of Russia in the ninth century, into which they gradually introduced Scandinavian hospitality and loyalty. For although the southern people seldom or never went into the Russian country before the time of the Varegians, for fear of being killed by the barbarous inhabitants, they nevertheless carried on trade with them, as is confirmed by Ibn Haucal, who says, that "the Chazarians bring honey and wax from the borders of Rus."

The city of Bulgar, however, whose situation on the Volga, below the mouths of the Kama and Belaya, was admirably adapted for trade, was the residence of a great number of A

bians and Persians from Southern Asia, as the monuments show, and likewise undoubtedly of many Ármenians, who are, perhaps more than the Jews, born to be merchants and agents of trade. In this city were stored up the goods, which were brought from very remote countries of the north and the south, and even from Siberia. With regard to the articles of trade, it is not necessary here particularly to enumerate them, as that has in part been already done by Cazwini and the above-mentioned writers, and they were at that time in a great measure the same as they are at present, although those that are brought from Scandinavia and that part of Russia which borders on the sea, are carried by a different mode of conveyance, almost entirely by sea, to the Levant and the Black Sea.

(To be continued.)

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROVENÇAL LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, BY A. W. SCHLEGEL.

WE give our readers some extracts from a Memoir of the learned A. W. Schle

gel on the Provençal Language and Literature, written on occasion of M. Raynouard's very interesting work, now publishing, on the same subject. We are glad to introduce them, not only in reference to this work, which we have much pleasure in thus announcing, but for that character of simple, judicious, and manly criticism, by which all the writings of M. Schlegel are distinguished.

"The labours of M. Raynouard are destined to fill up a great hiatus in the literary history of the middle ages. The Troubadours were in every one's mouth, but nothing was known of them. What was said could scarcely be otherwise than vague or false. But in a little time, the men of letters who may undertake to treat this subject, so important in respect to the origin of modern poetry, will be left without excuse, if they do no better than their predecessors.

"For some time past, the exertions of respectable writers have not been wanting to clear up the antiquities of the French language and literature. But if some of them, like M. de Sainte-Palaye, have seriously occupied themselves with the Provençal literature before M. Raynouard, no one at least has communicated to the public the results of his studies. Such a long neglect is the more surprising, as this literature must in

terest not only the learned of France, but those of Spain and Italy, since many celebrated Troubadours were born in their country, and since the Provençal poetry, the first could not fail to have great influence on the to develope itself, and much diffused abroad, formation of the Spanish and Italian poetry. The Provençal dialect appears to have been spoken heretofore in some parts of Upper Italy. It exists at this day as a living tongue, excepting the inevitable alteration of so many centuries, in Catalonia, in the kingdom of Valencia, and in the Balearic Isles, as well

as in the south of France.

clear this uncultivated ground. The task "M. Raynouard has begun the first to which he has undertaken singly, is of such extent and difficulty, that one would have said it was sufficient to occupy a society or scholars for a considerable number of years. But he does not come new to the undertak

ing; what he gives to the public is matured by long study—all his materials are ready— and with the activity he bestows on his work, we may hope to see it increase rapidly, and soon to be in possession of the whole, exhibiting a complete course of Provençal litera

ture.

"The pieces we have before us serve as the Introduction. In the first, the author traces the Romance dialect to its origin, bringing together such scattered indications as are left of it. In the second, he seizes language at the very moment, as it were, of a more regular formation, and analyses its most ancient monuments extant. Lastly, in the Grammar he developes the inflexions, the rules, the idioms of the language, such as it was spoken and written in its most flourishing epoch, that is to say, in the twelfth and thirteenth century.

The second volume of this Collection, under the title of Monuments of the Romance Language, will contain the most ancient original texts, both in verse and prose, accompanied with a translation and notes. In the third, which is at this moment in the press, and will appear along with the second, will be collected the amatory poetry of the Troubadours. In the first half of the fourth, the sirventes and the tenzons-generally, the satirical, political, moral, and religious pieces. The second part of this volume will contain the various readings, the lives of the poets, such as they are found in the manuscripts, and some pieces which the Editor did not think fit to rank under the preceding heads. In the fifth, a comparative view of the languages of Latin Europe, and other philological researches, will serve as the Introduction to a Glossary of the Romance language, reserved to the last volumes.

"The erudition of M. Raynouard is as extensive as it is solid. But what is far more admirable still, is the luminous criticism, the truly philosophic method which he

The first Volume.

brings to all his inquiries. He advances nothing without the proofs in his hand. He goes back always to the sources: he knows them all.

The songs of the Troubadours are often composed with a very studied artifice: in a style exceedingly concise, purposely enigmatical and filled with allusions to unknown facts, and to manners which to us are foreign. The turn of thought itself, the expression of sentiments, bear in them the colours and the costume of a distant age, to which we have to transport ourselves in imagination. And to facilitate the intelligence of such poems, the scanty remains of a language which has ceased to be cultivated for so many ages, we had, till now, neither grammar nor dictionary of this language: the only help, was the analogy of other dialects derived from the Latin; an analagy often deceitful: for, although the Roman language was, so to speak, the eldest daughter of the Latin tongue, and though it has strong features of resemblance to its younger sisters, the French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish languages, especially to the last, it has also much of idioms of its own, and the Latin words are often diverted from their primitive sense in a peculiar manner.

"On engaging in the study of this lan. guage, I speak from my own experience, one despairs of laying hold on a clue to guide one through its labyrinths: One is tempted to lay the blame of one's own imperfect knowledge on the language itself, and to believe that it is capricious, irregular, rebellious to all analogy. This is, however, a very erroneous opinion. M. Raynouard has very clearly demonstrated the contrary. He has carried a clear light into the midst of this darkness: he has disentangled, by his sagacity, an apparent confusion and, hereafter, they who have done no more than followed attentively in his steps, will already have surmounted the greater part of their difficulties.

"A certain dryness is inseparable from grammatical discussions; but M. Raynouard has avoided it as much as possible, by the spirit of philosophy which he introduces into his analysis, and by the elevation of his point of view. To judge from the space it occupies, one might think his grammar diffuse; it is, on the contrary, drawn up with most perfect conciseness.

The

greater part of his pages is filled with criticisms of original texts, which serve at once for examples and proofs of his grammatical rules. M. Raynouard thus affords his readers the means of examining for themselves, and convincing themselves of the truth of his observations. These numerous fragments of provençal poetry, accompanied by literal translations, familiarise the student with the constructions of the language, and prepare him to read the Troubadours themselves. With the help of the grammar, and the glossary which M. Raynouard proposes

to give, the greater part of their songs, especially their amatory pieces, will need no farther explanation. Many poems, those, for instance, containing historical allusions, cannot do without it; and others still, such as some pieces of Arnaud Daniel, and of Marcabrus, will perhaps remain forever undeciphered, even to scholars as conversant in the Roman tongue, and as accomplished in the art of philosophical criticism, as M. Raynouard.

"But to what purpose, it will perhaps be said, is all this apparatus of a difficult and unattracting erudition. Might one not translate freely into prose, the best pieces of the Troubadours, give extracts of some others, and consign all the remainder to oblivion, from tenderness to the memory of our honourable ancestors?-The experiment has been tried, and with lamentable result.-There are, no doubt, works of poetry, which, without sustaining any considerable injury, may be transferred into other languages, provided the translation be at least elegantly versified. The more any work is the production of an ambitious, but sterile imitation, of an art become mechanical, the more it revolves in a circle of magnificent common places, and a phraseology learnedly artificial, the less it risks in translation; for the equivalent of things of this sort is found abundantly in every cultivated literature. But the original impress, not only of the consummate works of genius, but even of early art, is difficult to preserve in translation. I think it would be impossible to imitate, with a happy fidelity, the provençal poetry, as much, perhaps, from its almost fantastic originality, as its simplicity of native grace. One cannot consider the songs of the Troubadours, as the spontaneous effusions of a nature still altogether savage. There is art, often indeed a very ingenious art; especially a complicated system of versification, a variety and a copiousness in the use of rhymes, which have not been equalled in any modern tongue. The Troubadours themselves called this combination of poetry and music, in which they exerted their talents, a science, but the gay science. It was not drawn from the source of books, nor of models reputed classical; it was inspired to them solely by their poetic instincts, and by the desire to please their generation. The age in which they lived, was not learned nor philosophical, but robust, undisciplined, warlike, adventurous. It was marked by striking contrasts; on one side a noble delicacy of sentiment, a refined courtesy of manners in the higher classes; on the other, dark shades of licentiousness, of rudeness and ignorance in the total of social life. The poetical compositions of such a time, especially those which rest most on the inspiration of the moment, and an individual feeling and situation, namely, their lyrical compositions, resemble not the usual flowers of our literary gardens, but much rather those Alpine plants, which can

not be transplanted from their native soil, and from the sky under which they sprung. To see the rose of the Alps in blow, we must climb the mountains. To enjoy those songs which have delighted so many illustrious sovereigns, so many gallant knights, so many ladies, celebrated for their beauty and their grace, which have had such vogue, not only in the south of Europe, but whereever chivalry flourished, and even in the Holy Land, to enjoy these songs, I say, we must listen to the Troubadours themselves, and apply ourselves to comprehend their language.

"It will be time to discuss the poetical merit of the Troubadours when we have the opportunity of reading their principal works in a correct edition, accompanied by all that is necessary to assist us in understanding them: such a one, in a word, as M. Raynouard promises us. But those who are acquainted with history will all agree, that the Provençal poetry contains a treasure of national recollections. Some Troubadours are the ancestors of families that hold, even at this day, a distinguished rank in France; others belong to families now extinct, but once illustrious and powerful; many, as Bertrand of Born, and Folquet of Marseille, played an important part in the political events of their time; a great number of them have spoken of these same events, of which they were witnesses, often, perhaps, with the partiality of passion, but always with the manly frankness of vigorous minds; all furnish living pictures of the manners of their age, whether designedly, as in their moral and political pieces, or unconsciously, in the native ingenuous expression of their feelings and their thoughts. What uncolours the history of the middle ages is, that the contemporary chronicles have generally written in Latin. Now, it is almost impossible to transfer, into a dead and learned language, the most characteristic individual traits. All, then, that is transmitted to us in the popular dialects of those times is exceedingly precious, if we would know them intimately it is as if we heard the distinguished men who then lived speaking to us themselves. What is called in history, the spirit of an age, says a German writer, is commonly nothing more than the spirit of a modern author reflecting an altered image of past times. The historian has not yet appeared in France who could paint the middle ages in a manner truly dramatic that is to say, bringing on the stage the men as they lived, surrounded with the atmosphere of the then prevalent opinions and feelings, without imparting to them motives foreign to their nature-without analysing their characters by reflexions of universal application, entitled philosophi cal, and without expecting to arrive at the secret of individual existence by the circuitous road of reasoning. If such a historian should arise, he will know how to turn to account the materials prepared for him by

the learned Editor of the Troubadours: He will borrow from them the truest and most striking of the local tints of his picture.

Even did the Provençal poetry contain nothing more than some historic details, else unknown, still it would be necessary to resort to the original text; for in all that is to serve for evidence in matter of history, it is not possible to rest satisfied with translations.

Lastly, The study of the Provençal language is very curious in itself, under the threefold respect of the general theory of languages; of the etymology of the French tongue, and other dialects derived from the Latin; and finally, of its own peculiar beauties and distinctive qualities."

M. Schlegel proceeds to sketch some of these inquiries a little more in detail; particularly in reference to the bearing of this study on the theory of language in general and on the formation of the French and other languages from the Latin. To some points of such discussion we may hereafter, perhaps, have occasion to call the attention of our readers. The corruption of the language of the Romans, into the dialects in which it still subsists among the descendants of the nations they had conquered, is one of the most curious and interesting subjects that are open to philologists; inasmuch as it presents to them the extraordinary phenomenon of language falling into destruction, if we may say so, and renewing itself out of its own ruins; as the mass, too, of materials, for the investigation, is unusually large, and as the several languages which have thus arisen have each attained to considerable perfection, and have each formed themselves into a very peculiar, and, it might almost be said, original character. M. Schlegel has himself in preparation, A Historical Essay on the formation of the French language," which, from his thorough acquaintance with the literature of all the ages of modern Europe, and from the philosophical spirit which he brings into all literary discussion, cannot fail, when it appears, to interest deeply the curiosity of the students of philology.

He closes his Memoir with the following words:

"I here conclude my observations, which have no other object than to draw the attention of the public to a literary undertaking of the greatest importance, in relation both to the study of philosophy and to the history of the middle ages. M. Raynouard, so celebrated as a poet, so honourably known