41.
She held the helm with steady hand
Amid the stronger waves;
Through surge and surf she drove;
The adventurer leap'd to land.

NOTES TO BOOK XI.

Green warbler of the Bowers of Paradise.-5, p. 313.

The souls of the blessed are supposed by some of the Mahommedans to animate green birds in the groves of paradise. Was this opinion invented to conciliate the Pagan Arabs, who believed, that of the blood near the dead person's brain was formed a bird named Hamah, which once in a hundred years visited the sepulchre?

"Then I

To this there is an allusion in the Moallakat. knew with certainty, that in so fierce a contest with them, many a heavy blow would make the perched birds of the brain fly quickly from every skull."- Poem of Antara.

In the Bahar-Danush, parrots are called the green-vested resemblers of Heaven's dwellers. The following passages in the same work may, perhaps, allude to the same superstition, or perhaps are merely metaphorical, in the ususl style of its true Oriental bombast. "The bird of understanding fled from the nest of my brain." "My joints and members seemed as if they would separate from each other, and the bird of life would quit the nest of my body." "The bird of my soul became a captive in the net of her glossy ringlets." I remember in a European Magazine two similar lines by the author of the Lives of the Admirals:

"My beating bosom is a well-wrought cage,

Whence that sweet goldfinch Hope shall ne'er elope!" The grave of Francisco Jorge, the Maronite martyr, was visited by two strange birds of unusual size. No one knew whence they came. They emblemed, says Vasconcellos, the purity and the indefatigable activity of his soul.

Immediately behold a miracle! as they were talking together, the door was gently knocked at. He ordered the woman servant to go there, and she found a man, of all men the most beautiful, who had a plate in his hand, covered with green silk, in which were ten pomegranates. The woman was astonished at the beauty of the man and of the pomegranates, and she took one of them and hid it, and carried the other nine to Ali, who kissed the present. When he had counted them he found that one was wanting, and said so to the servant; she confessed that she had taken it on account of its excellence, and Ali gave her her liberty. The pomegranates were from paradise; Hosein was cured of his disease only by their odor, and rose up immediately, recovered, and in full strength. - Maracci.

I suspect, says Maracci, that this is a true miracle wrought by some Christian saint, and falsely attributed to Ali. However this may be, it does not appear absurd that God should, by some especial favor, reward an act of remarkable charity, even in an infidel, as he has sometimes, by a striking chastisement, punished enormous crimes. But the assertion, that the pomegranates were sent from paradise, exposes the fable. Maracci, after detailing and ridiculing the Mahommedan miracles, contrasts with them, in an appendix, a few of the real and permanent miracles of Christianity, which are proved by the testimony of the whole world. He selects five as examples. 1. The chapel of Loretto, brought by angels from Nazareth to Illyricum, and from Illyricum to Italy; faithful messengers having been sent to both places, and finding in both its old foundations, in dimensions and materials exactly corresponding.

2. The cross of St. Thomas at Meliapor. A Bramin, as the saint was extended upon his cross in prayer, slew him. On the anniversary of his martyrdom, during the celebration of mass, the cross gradually becomes luminous, till it shines one white glory. At elevating the host, it resumes its natural color, and sweats blood profusely; in which the faithful dip their clothes, by which many miracles are wrought.

3. Certissimum quia evidentissimum. — At Bari, on the Adriatic, a liquor flows from the bones of St. Nicholas; they call it St. Nicholas's manna, which, being preserved in bottles, never corrupts or breeds worms, except the possessor be corrupt himself, and daily it works miracles.

4. At Tolentino in the March of Anconia, the arms of

The inhabitants of Otaheite have assigned a less respecta- St. Nicholas swell with blood, and pour out copious streams, ble part of the body as the seat of the soul.

The disembowelling of the body there, is always performed in great secrecy, and with much religious superstition. The bowels are, by these people, considered as the immediate organs of sensation, where the first impressions are received, and by which all the operations of the mind are carried on; it is therefore natural to conclude, that they may esteem and venerate the intestines, as bearing the greatest affinity to the immortal part. I have frequently held conversations on this subject, with a view to convince them that all intellectual operations were carried on in the head; at which they would generally smile, and intimate that they had frequently seen men recover whose skulls had been fractured, and whose heads had otherwise been much injured; but that, in all cases in which the intestines had been wounded, the persons on a certainty died. Other arguments they would also advance in favor of their belief; such as the effect of fear, and other passions, which caused great agitation and uneasiness, and would sometimes produce sickness at the stomach, which they attributed entirely to the action of the bowels. - Vancouver.

when any great calamity impends over Christendom.
5. The blood of St. Januarius at Naples.

These, says Maracci, are miracula perseverantia, permanent miracles; and it cannot be said, as of the Mahommedan ones, that they are tricks of the devil.

From the birth-day of the world, &c.— 11. p. 314.

The birth-day of the world was logically ascertained in a provincial council held at Jerusalem, against the Quartodecimans by command of Pope Victor, about the year 200. Venerable Bede (Comm. de Equinoct. Vern.) supplies the mode of proof. "When the multitude of priests were assembled together, then Theophylus, the bishop, produced the authority sent unto him by Pope Victor, and explained what had been enjoined him. Then all the bishops made answer, Unless it be first examined how the world was at the beginning, nothing salutary can be ordained respecting the observations of Easter. And they said, What day can we believe to have been the first, except Sunday? And Theophylus said, Prove this which ye say. Then the bishops said, According to the authority of the Scriptures, the evening and the morning were the first day; and, in like manner, they were the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and the seventh; and on the seventh day, which was called the Sabbath, the Lord rested from all his works; therefore, since Saturday, which is the Sabbath, was the last day, which but Sunday can have been the first? Then said Theophylus, Lo, ye have proved that Sunday was the first day; what say ye now concerning the seasons- for there are

Had borne the healing fruit. 9, p. 314. When Hosein, the son of Ali, was sick of a grievous disorder, he longed for a pomegranate, though that fruit was not then in season. Ali went out, and diligently inquiring, found a single one in the possession of a Jew. As he returned with it, a sick man met him and begged half the pomegranate, saying it would restore his health. Ali gave him half, and when he had eaten it, the man requested he would give him the other half, the sooner to complete his recovery. Ali be-four times or seasons in the year, Spring, Summer, Autumn, nignantly complied, returned to his son, and told him what had happened, and Hosein approved what his father had done.

and Winter; which of these was the first? The bishops answered, Spring. And Theophylus said, Prove this which ye say. Then the bishops said, It is written, the earth brought

In Mr. Fox's collection of Persic books, is an illuminated copy of Ferdusi, containing a picture of the Simorg, who is there represented as an ugly dragon-looking sort of bird. 1 should be loath to believe that she has so bad a physiognomy; and as, in the same volume, there are blue and yellow horses, there is good reason to conclude that this is not a genuine portrait.

forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree | pounded together, and dried in the shade, and then to rub it yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind; but with a Simorg's feather. this is in the spring. Then said Theophylus, When do you believe the beginning of the world to have been, in the beginning of the season, or in the middle, or in the end? And the bishops answered, at the Equinox, on the eighth of the kalends of April. And Theophylus said, Prove this which ye say. Then they answered, It is written, God made the light, and called the light day, and he made the darkness, and called the darkness night, and he divided the light and the darkness into equal parts. Then said Theophylus, Lo, ye have proved the day and the season. What think ye now concerning the Moon; was it created when increasing, or when full, or on the wane? And the bishops answered, At the full. And he said, Prove this which ye say. Then they answered, God made two great luminaries, and placed them in the firmament of the Heavens, that they might give light upon the earth; the greater luminary in the beginning of the day, the lesser one in the beginning of the night. It could not have been thus unless the moon were at the full. Now, therefore, let us see when the world was created: it was made upon a Sunday in the spring, at the Equinox, which is on the eighth of the kalends of April, and at the full of the moon."

According to the form of a border-oath, the work of creation began by night. "You shall swear by Heaven above you, Hell beneath you, by your part of Paradise, by all that God made in six days and seven nights, and by God himself, you are whart out sackless of art, part, way, witting, ridd, kenning, having or recetting of any of the goods and chattells named in this bill. So help you God." (Nicholson and Burn, 1. xxv.) This, however, is assertion without proof, and would not have been admitted by Theophylus and his bishops.

That old and only Bird. - 12, p. 314.

Simorg Anka, says my friend Mr. Fox, in a note to his Achmed Ardebeili, is a bird or griffon of extraordinary strength and size, (as its name imports, signifying as large as thirty eagles,) which, according to the Eastern writers, was sent by the Supreme Being to subdue and chastise the rebellious Dives. It was supposed to possess rational faculties, and the gift of speech. The Caherman Nameh relates, that Simorg| Anka, being asked his age, replied, this world is very ancient, for it has already been seven times replenished with beings different from man, and as often depopulated. That the age of Adam, in which we now are, is to endure seven thousand years, making a great cycle; that himself had seen twelve of these revolutions, and knew not how many more he had

to see.

I am afraid that Mr. Fox and myself have fallen into a grievous heresy, both respecting the unity and the sex of the Simorg. For this great bird is a hen; there is indeed a cock also, but he seems to be of some inferior species, a sort of Prince George of Denmark, the Simorg's consort, not the cock Simorg.

In that portion of the Shah Nameh which has been put into English rhyme by Mr. Champion, some anecdotes may be found concerning this all-knowing bird, who is there represented as possessing one species of knowledge, of which she would not be readily suspected. Zalzer, the father of Rustam, is exposed in his infancy by his own father, Saum, who takes him for a young devilling, because his body is black, and his hair white. The infant is laid at the foot of Mount Elburs, where the Simorg has her nest, and she takes him up, and breeds him with her young, who are very desirous of eating him, but she preserves him. When Zalzer is grown up, and leaves the nest, the Simorg gives him one of her feathers, telling him, whenever he is in great distress, to burn it, and she will immediately come to his assistance. Zalzer marries Rodahver, who is likely to die in childing; he then burns the feather, and the Simorg appears and orders the Cæsarean operation to be performed. As these stories are not Ferdusi's invention, but the old traditions of the Persians, collected and arranged by him, this is, perhaps, the earliest fact concerning that operation which is to be met with, earlier probably than the fable of Semele. Zalzer was ordered first to give her wine, which acts as a powerful opiate, and after sewing up the incision, to anoint it with a mixture of milk, musk, and grass,

When the Genius of the Lamp is ordered by Aladin to bring a roc's egg, and hang it up in the hall, he is violently enraged, and exclaims, Wretch, wouldst thou have me hang up my master? From the manner in which rocs are usually mentioned in the Arabian Tales, the reader feels as much surprised at this indignation as Aladin was himself. Perhaps the original may have Simorg instead of roc. To think, indeed, of robbing the Simorg's nest, either for the sake of drilling the eggs, or of poaching them, would, in a believer, whether Shiah or Sunni, be the height of human impiety.

Since this note was written, the eighth volume of the Asiatic Researches has appeared, in which Captain Wilford identifies the roc with the Simorg. "Sinbad," he says, "was exposed to many dangers from the birds called Rocs or Simorgs, the Garudas of the Pauranics, whom Persian Romancers represent as living in Madagascar, according to Marco Polo." But the Roc of the Arabian Tales has none of the characteristics of the Simorg; and it is only in the instance which I have noticed, that any mistake of one for the other can be suspected.

The spring was clear, the water deep. 30, p. 316. Some travellers may perhaps be glad to know, that the spring from which this description was taken, is near Bristol, about a mile from Stokes-Croft turnpike, and known by the name of the Boiling-Well. Other, and larger springs, of the same kind, called the Lady Pools, are near Shobdon, in Herefordshire.

It ran a river deep and wide.—35, p. 317.

A similar picture occurs in Miss Baillie's Comedy, "Tho Second Marriage." "By Heaven, there is nothing so interesting to me as to trace the course of a prosperous man through this varied world. First, he is seen like a little stream, wearing its shallow bed through the grass, circling and winding, and gleaning up its treasures from every twinkling rill, as it passes; further on, the brown sand fences its margin, the dark rushes thicken on its side; further on still, the broad flags shake their green ranks, the willows bend their wide boughs o'er its course; and yonder, at last, the fair river appears, spreading his bright waves to the light."

Downward, and downward still, and still the way, The lengthening way is safe.

And warily surveys

The path that lies before.

Downward, and downward still, and still the way,
The long, long way is safe;

Rock only, the same light,
The same dead atmosphere,

And solitude and silence like the grave.