ened the effect of this attire, and completed a figure scarcely human. After having been detained for some time by the dances and exhibitions of the warriors, the party were suffered to proceed through the streets, the houses of which were crowded with females and children, all anxious to see white men for the first time, and drowning the firing and music by their exclamations; at length they reached the front of the palace, the bands, principally composed of horns and flutes, played their wild melodies in concert, when a royal messenger bid them wait a further invitation from the king here they were compelled to witness a most inhuman spectacle: It was that of a man, whom they were tormenting previous to sacrifice; his hands were pinioned behind him, a knife was passed through his cheeks, to which his lips were noosed like the figure of 8: one ear was cut off and carried before him, the other hung to his head by a small bit of skin; there were several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust into each shoulder-blade; he was led with a cord passed through his nose, by men disfigured with immense caps of shaggy black skins, and drums beat before him; the feeling this horrid barbarity excited must be imagined. Fortunately our travellers were soon released from the sight of this horrid and degrading spectacle, by one of a different character, in which an area of nearly a mile in circumference was crowded with magnificence and novelty. The king, his tributaries, and captains, were resplendent in the distance, surrounded by attendants of every description, fronted by a mass of warriors which seemed to make our approach impervious. The scene was reflected with a glare scarcely more supportable than the heat, from the massy gold ornaments which glistened in every direction. More than a hundred bands burst at once on our arrival, with the peculiar airs of their favourite chiefs; the horns flourished their defiances with the beating of innumerable drums and metal instruments, and then yielded for a while to the soft breathings of their long flutes, which were truly harmonious; and a pleasing instrument, like a bagpipe without the drone, was happily blended. At least a hundred large umbrellas, or canopies, which could shelter thirty persons, were sprung up and down by the bearers with brilliant effect, being made of scarlet, yellow, and the most showy cloths and silks, and crowned on the top with crescents, pelicans, elephants, barrels, and arms and swords of gold; they were of various shapes, but mostly dome; and the valances (in some of which small looking-glasses were inserted) fantastically scalloped and fringed; from the fronts of some, the proboscis and small teeth of elephants projected, and a few were roofed with leopard-skins, and crowned with various animals naturally stuffed. The state hammocks, like long cradles, were raised in the rear, the poles on the heads of the bearers; the cushions and pillows were covered with crimson taffeta, and the richest clothes hung over the sides. Innumerable small umbrellas, of various coloured stripes, were crowded in the intervals, whilst several large trees heightened the glare, by contrasting the sober colouring of nature. "Discolor unde aure per ramos aura refulsit." The King's messengers, with gold breast-plates, made way for us, and we commenced our round, preceded by the canes and the English flag. The travellers stopped to take the hand of every caboceer (chief or magistrate,) which, as their household suites occupied several spaces in advance, delayed them long enough to distinguish some of the ornaments, in the general blaze of splendour and ostentation. These caboceers, and the superior captains and attendants, were most splendidly attired in Ashantee cloths made from the most costly foreign silks, which had been unravelled to weave them; these were thrown over the shoulder like the Roman toga; necklaces of massy gold, Moorish charms, rude lumps of rock gold, wolves' and rams' heads as large as life, in gold, caps with eagles' feathers, and a variety of other ornaments, were the usual appendages of their dress. "The prolonged flourishes of the horns, (says Mr. Bowditch, in his Narrative of the Mission,) a deafening tumult of drums, and the fuller concert of the intervals, announced that we were approaching the king; we were already passing the principal officers of his household: the chamberlain, the gold coin blower, the captair. of the messengers, the captain for royal executions, the captain of the market, the keeper of the royal burial-ground, and the master of the bands, sat surrounded by a retinue and splendour which bespoke the dignity and importance of their offices. The cook had a number of small services covered with leopard's skin held behind him, and a large quantity of massy silver plate was displayed before him, punch-bowls, waiters, coffee-pots, tankards, and a very large vessel, with heavy handles and clawed feet, which seemed to have been made to hold incense; I observed a Portuguese inscription on one piece, and they seemed generally of that manufacture. The executioner, a man of an immense size, wore a massy gold hatchet on his breast; and the execution stool was held before him, clotted in blood, and partly covered with a cawl of fat. The king's four linguists were encircled by a splendour inferior to none, and their peculiar insignia, gold canes, were elevated in all directions, tied in bundles like fasces. The keeper of the treasury added to his own magnificence by the ostentatious display of his service: the blow-pan boxes, scales, and weights, were of solid gold. "A delay of some minutes whilst we severally approached to receive the king's hand, afforded us a thorough view of him; his deportment first excited my attention; native dignity in princes we are disposed to call barbarous, was a curious spectacle; his manners were majestic, yet courteous; and he did not allow his surprise to beguile him for a moment of the composure of the monarch; he appeared to be of about thirty-eight years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent countenance; he wore a fillet of aggry beads round his temples, a necklace of gold cockspur shells, strung by their largest ends, and over his right shoulder a red silk cord, suspending three saphies cased in gold; his bracelets were the richest mixtures of beads and gold, and his fingers covered with rings; his cloth was of a dark green silk; a pointed diadem was elegantly painted in white on his forehead; also a pattern resembling an epaulette on each shoulder, and an ornament like a full blown rose, one leaf rising above another, until it covered his whole breast; his knee-bands were of aggry beads, and his ancle, strings of gold ornaments of the most delicate workmanship, small drums, sankos, stools, swords, guns, and birds clustered together; his sandals, of a soft white leather, were embossed across the instep band with small gold and silver cases of saphies; he was seated in a low chair richly ornamented with gold; he wore a pair of gold castanets on his finger and thumb, which he clapped to enforce silence. The belts of the guards behind his chair were cased in gold, and covered with small jaw-bones of the same metal; the elephants' tails, waving like a small cloud before him, were spangled with gold, and large plumes of feathers were flourished amid them. His eunuch presided over these attendants, wearing only one massy piece of gold about his neck; the royal stool, entirely cased in gold, was displayed under a splendid umbrella, with drums, sankos, horns, and various musical instruments cased in gold, about the thickness of cartridge paper; large circles of gold hung by scar. let cloth from the swords of state, the sheaths as well as the handles of which were also cased; hatchets of the same were intermixed with them; the breasts of the Ocrahs, and various attendants, were adorned with large stars, stools, crescents, and gossamer wings of solid gold. "We pursued our course through this blazing circle, which afforded to the last a variety exceeding description and memory; so many splendid novelties diverting the fatigue, heat, and pressure we were labouring under; we were almost exhausted, however, by the time we reached the end; when, instead of being conducted to our residence, we were desired to seat ourselves under a tree at some distance, to receive the compliments of the whole in turn. "They dismounted as they arrived within thirty yards of us; their principal captains preceded them with the goldheaded swords, a body of soldiers followed with their arms reversed, then their bands and gold canes, pipes, and elephants' tails. The chief, with a small body guard under his umbrella, was generally supported around the waist by the hands of his favourite slave, whilst captains halloed, close in his ear, his warlike deeds and (strong) names, which were reiterated with the voices of Stentors by those before and behind; the larger party of warriors brought up the rear. Old captains of secondary rank were carried on the shoulders of a strong slave; but a more interesting sight was presented in the minors, or young caboceers, many not more than five or six years of age, who, overweighed by ornaments, were carried in the same manner (under their canopies), encircled by all the pomp and parade of their predecessors. Amongst others the grandson of Cheboo was pointed out, whom the king had generously placed on the stool of his perfidious enemy. A band of Fetish men, or priests, wheeled round and round as they passed with amazing velocity. Manner was as various as ornament; some danced by with irresistible buffoonery, some with a gesture and carriage of defiance; one distinguished caboceer performed the war dance before us for some minutes, with a large spear, which grazed us at every bound he made; but the greater number passed us with order and dignity, some slipping one sandal, some both, some turning round after taking each of us by the hand; the attendants of others knelt before them, throwing dust upon their heads; and the Moors apparently vouchsafed us a blessing. The king's messengers, who were posted near us, with their long hair hanging in twists, like a thrum mop, used little ceremony in hurrying by this transient procession; yet it was nearly eight o'clock before the king approached. It was a beautiful star-light night, and the torches which preceded him displayed the splendour of his regalia with a chastened lustre, and made the human trophies of the soldiers more awfully imposing. The skulls of three Banda Caboceers, who had been his most obstinate enemies, adorned the largest drum: the vessels in which the boys dipped their torches were of gold. He stopped to inquire our names a second time, and to wish us a good night; his address was mild and deliberate: he was followed by his aunts, cousins, and others of his family, with rows of fine gold chains around their necks. Numerous chiefs succeeded, and it was long before we were at liberty to retire. We agreed in estimating the number of warriors at 30,000." (To be continued.) JACK OF NEWBURY. MR. J. WINSCHCOMB, otherwise called Jack of Newbury, (whose portrait figures on many a sign,) was descended of very poor parents, who after giving him such an education as their circumstances would admit, put him apprentice to a rich clothier in Newbury: he was very diligent in his business, and conducted himself with such propriety, as to acquire the good will and respect both of his master and mistress. When he was nearly out of his time his master died; soon after which, his mistress, who was both young and rich, had several suitors, Who flocked to see her young and old, In part for love, in part for gold. Among the rest were the curate of Speenhamland (then called Spenhomeland,) a rich tanner, and an eminent tailor. But she thought the curate too studious, the tanner too old, and the tailor too foppish. It appeared, however, that her dislike to these proceeded more particularly from her passion for another; for in reality, she was in love with her apprentice John. Love, like hunger, will break through every restraint; this was evinced in the mistress, for her passion soon overcame her prudence, that she opened her mind to John. John received the declaration so bashfully, and began to excuse himself for the honour designed him in so confused a manner, that she was greatly disappointed and perplexed, and began more than half to suspect that there must be a rival in the case, to whom John's heart was engaged, and in whose favour he was prepossessed. These conjectures made her fear that a prior passion had rendered him blind to the charms of any woman, except the object of his wishes, and deaf to the voice of interest, for she had a very good opinion of her own personal attractions, and knew that he must be perfectly well acquainted with her riches; she concluded, therefore, that he must be either stupid, mad, or in love elsewhere, to refuse such an offer. It being the time of the annual fair, which is held at Newbury, on St. Bartholomew's day, she determined to see it, merely for the purpose of being conducted about by John during the day. In the course of their perambulations, they met with a very particular friend of the mistress, with whom she entered into conversation; John thinking they might have some business of a private nature together, respectfully retired to some distance; for he possessed all the politeness of those days, and was, besides, a very handsome young fellow. The mistress happening to turn her head, (for nothing could entirely divert her attention from the object of her wishes,) perceived John saluting a very handsome, fresh-coloured, smart young woman. This sight seemed to confirm her suspicions, and inflamed her heart with jealousy. She broke off the conversation with her friend abruptly, and hastened to John, lest he should have any more discourse. or take any more freedoms with the girl. When she came up to John she took no notice of what she had observed, but walked along as before, though rather in a more pensive and melancholy mood. They soon met the tailor, who was her suitor, and who insisted that, as it was fair time, she should drink a glass of sack with him, sack being the liquor of the polite at that period. They accordingly repaired to a house of entertainment, where they were hardly seated before they saw the tanner pass by, the tailor not knowing the tanner was his rival, called him in, for being of an avaricious disposition, he thought it would be a good opportunity of foisting half the reckoning upon him; for he had more love for the widow's money than for herself; and more love for his own money than for the wine or the tanner. While the glass went merrily round, who should pass by but the curate of Speenhamland; they both started up at once to call him in, being instigated, though without each other's knowledge, by the same motive; that is, they both wished to employ him as an advocate in their favour, to plead their suit with the widow, not having the least notion of his pretensions. But as soon as they dis covered that they were all rivals, they suddenly appeared extremely blank, and looked wonderfully suspicious at each other. They, however, agreed at last to refer the matter to the lady herself, whose choice they would abide by. She told them she loved them all equally, but would give them a final answer on the Thursday following. John, who had been present the whole of the time, and seen and heard all that past, began to perceive things in a different light from what he had hitherto considered them. He found what suitors his mistress had, and how easily she might be snapt up; he plainly perceived what a great advantage such a match would be to him; he considered that his mistress was not only immensely rich, but young, brisk, and tolerably handsome. He wondered how he could be so silly as to refuse such an offer, and determined to press his suit as soon as they reached home. Accordingly, he was very earnest in the evening on the topics of love and marriage, with his mistress, and expressed himself with great ardour. His mistress was amazed at his alteration in disposition, behaviour, and address; she was pleasingly surprised at his declaration, and determined soon to be united to the object of her affection. But first she thought it prudent to be satisfied with respect to her suspicions; she therefore frankly mentioned all her surmises, not forgetting the pretty, fresh-coloured girl in the fair. John quieted her mind, and excused himself by solemnly declaring that he had never entertained the least affection for any woman but herself; that with respect to his kissing the girl in the fair, it was a piece of levity he was frequently guilty of with those he thought little or nothing about, but that his profound respect always had withheld him from taking such liberties with her. This satisfied her, and thinking that mutual happiness could never come too soon, they were married on the Thursday morning following. The three suitors, viz. the parson, tanner, and tailor, understood the matter from common report, and therefore thought it unnecessary to go to her for a final answer, when they could have it from every man, woman, or child in the town; for they gave such a liberal and magnificent entertainment, that the whole country rang with their marriage. Jack of Newbury becoming thus a rich and powerful man, was extremely good and charitable to the poor, and became beloved by every one. His wife dying in a few years, he afterwards married one of his maid servants, whom he had noticed for her good sense, modesty, and prudence, preferring her to any more wealthy match, in the same manner as her mistress had before preferred him. He died in an advanced age, universally regretted as he was universally beloved, leaving great riches to his wife, children, and all his relations, as well as many considerable legacies to his friends, servants, and the poor. W. L. IRISH PROTESTANTS SAVED. THE following singular narrative is to be found among the papers of Sir James Ware : Queen Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England, about the latter end of her reign, signed a commission to take the same course with them in Ireland and to execute the same with greater force, she nominated Dr. Cole one of the commissioners. The doctor coming with the commission to Chester, on his journey, the mayor of that city, hearing that her Majesty was sending a messenger into Ireland, and he being a churchman, waited on the doctor, who in a discourse with the mayor, taketh out of a cloak-bag a leather box, saying unto him, "Here is a commission that shall lash the heretics of Ireland," (calling the Protestants by that title.) The good woman of the house, being well affected to the Protestant religion, and also having a brother named John Edmonds, of the same, then a citizen in Dublin, was much troubled at the doctor's words; but watching her convenient time, while the mayor took his leave, and the doctor complimented him down stairs, she opens the box, takes the commission out, and places in lieu thereof, a sheet of paper, with a pack of cards wrapped up therein, the knave of clubs being faced uppermost. The doctor came up to his chamber, suspecting nothing of what had been done, put up the box as formerly. The next day, going to the water side, the wind and weather serving him, he sailed towards Ireland, and landed the 7th of October, 1558, at Dublin. Then coming to the Castle, the Lord Fitzwilliam being Lord Deputy, sent for him to come before him and the privy council; who coming in after he had made a speech, relating upon what account he came over, he presents the box unto the Lord Deputy, who causing it to be opened, that the secretary might read the commission, there was nothing save a pack of cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost, which not only started the Lord Deputy and council, but the doctor, who assured them he had a commission, but knew not how it was gone; then the Lord Deputy made answer, "Let us have another commission, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean while." The doctor being troubled in his mind, went away, and returned into England, and, coming to the court obtained another commission; but staying for a wind on the water side, news came to him that the Queen was dead. Thus God Preserved the Protestants in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth was so delighted with this story, which was told her by Lord Fitzwalter, on his return to England, that she gave Elizabeth Edmonds, whose husband's name was Maltershad, a pension of 407. during her lifetime. See Cox's Hibernia Anglicana, vol. 2. p. 308. Harleian Miscell. vol. 5, p. 568. The Selector; OR, CHOICE EXTRACTS FROM NEW WORKS. THE PACHA OF EGYPT. THE Pacha, every now and then, addressed some questions to us; two or three about the Persians, and their adoption of our discipline; but all inconsequent. I sat on the divan with my eyes fixed upon him; I wanted to examine the countenance of a man, who had realised in our day one of those scenes in history, which, when we have perused it, always compels us to lay down the book, and recover ourselves. There he sat a quick eye, features common, nose bad, a grizzled beard, looking much more than fifty, the worn complexion of that period of life, and there seemed to be creeping upon him that aspect which belongs to, and betrays the 'grey decrepitude of lust.' Mohammed Ali Pacha is a Turk, a very Turk he is surrounded, flattered, and cajoled by a set of foreign adventurers, who put notions into his head, and words into his mouth, which pass for, and, in truth, become his own: the race between him and them is, who shall get the most out of the other; and, what between force and fraud, I believe the Pacha has the best of it. His idea of political economy is pretty much like that of the countryman, who killed the goose, and was astonished not to find more eggs of gold. So far from improving, as far as we could hear and see, he is ruining and impoverishing his country. He has got rid of his Turks and Albanians, and flatters himself his new levy is a master-stroke of policy. He does not pay, and will never attach them; and if they do not (which I think probable) desert with their arms, and disturb his conquests and possessions above the cataracts, they will die away as a body, and fall to pieces in a very short period of time. The protection which he affords to the European traveller is to be acknowledged, but not at the expense of truth. He knows if his country was not safe, the Europeans would not come there: he encourages the intercourse, because he avows his wish to receive and employ Franks, and it is necessary, therefore, to let them see and know that protection is afforded them, and to accustom his subjects to their presence. As far as Pacha can be independent of the Porte, he is, and he knows it is only by cultivating his European relations that he can effectually continue so to the end. They might now send him the bowstring in vain; they tell you that he is not sanguinary; men grow tired of shedding blood, as well as of other pleasures; but if the cutting off a head would drop gold into his coffers, he would not be slow to give the signal. His laugh has nothing in it of nature; how can it have? I can hear it now,-a hard, sharp laugh, such as that with which strong, heartless men would divide booty torn from the feeble. I leave him to his admirers. At one thing I heartily rejoice; it is said that our consul-general has great influence with him, and it is known that that is always exerted freely and amiably for Franks of all nations in distress or difficulty, and often for natives also.-Scenes and Impressions in Egypt, &c. CROSSING THE DESERT. THE road through the desert is most wonderful in its features: a finer cannot be imagined. It is wide, hard, firm, winding, for at least two-thirds of the way, from Kosseir to Thebes, between ranges of rocky hills, rising often perpendicularly on either side, as if they had been scraped by art; here, again, rather broken, and overhanging, as if they were the lofty banks of a mighty river, and you traversing its dry and naked bed. Now you are quite landlocked; now again you open on small valleys, and see upon heights beyond, small square towers. It was late in the evening when we came to our ground, a sort of dry bay; and, burning sand, with rock and cliff, rising in jagged points all arounda spot where the waters of ocean might sleep in stillness, or, with the soft voice of their gentlest ripple, lull the storm |
