meet an English visitor in open divan before them. After the usual compliments, he opened conversation by the essential question, what we came to do in his country. The answer was brief-to study and examine its natural productions, and more especially its mineral riches. This was somewhat incomprehensible, and still less credible; but after a little thought, the pasha said, "If you find mines here, you will do me mischief, for the Persians will come to dispute with me their possession." He then looked at the Tajiks for assent to his statement, which was given with a respectful bow of the head. "The sultan," we said, "will be able to defend his property." "Praise be to God!" was the pasha's pious answer. The British resident's presents, with his especial regards, were then laid before the pasha. He begged every thanks o be returned to his "brother," as he designated Colonel Taylor; and on our returning to our home, after a long and agreeable conversation, we found a horse awaiting the author's acceptance, and food provided for us from the pasha's kitchen.

At the time Mr. Rich visited Suleimaniyeh, Mahmud Pasha was at the head of the tribe. The year before (1819), Daoud Pasha of Baghdad began a secret correspondence with a brother of Mahmud's, called Hasan Bey, and endeavoured to entice him from and set him up against his brother, in which at last he was successful. Hasan Bey ran away to Baghdad, where he was received with singular honour, and shortly afterwards created Pasha of Keuy Sanjiak; from which post, however, he was recalled in a few weeks, the Pasha of Baghdad finding it impossible to make head against Mahmud Pasha, assisted by the Persians. At last, finding Hasan Bey of no further use to him, he closed with the first advantageous offer made by Mahmud Pasha, and gave up Hasan to his justly-offended brother, without caring what became of him. Hasan was brought as a prisoner by a party of a hundred Georgians, who guarded him night and day until he reached Suleimaniyeh. The young man appeared downcast, and made but a foolish sort of figure. Happily for him, his brother was neither a Turk nor a Persian. The dastardly way in which he had been abandoned by the Turks also operated in his favour, and he was put under no restraint or punishment but that of being strictly watched.

There were also then at Suleimaniyeh two other brothers of Mahmud, Osman Bey and Suleiman Bey, the present pasha, and an uncle of the three brothers, called Abdullah Pasha. There was at the same time in the town a Muhammedan saint, called Sheikh Khaled, but whom it was a profanation to call by any other name than Hazret i Merlana, or "the holy beloved one;" and his

sayings were spoken of as being hadiz, or "inspired." Osman Bey, the pasha, and all the principal Kurds, were his murids, or disciples. When Mahmud Pasha finally determined on submitting to the Turks, he went to this holy man, accompanied by his uncle, Abdullah Pasha, and his two brothers, Osman and Suleiman. These three swore allegiance to Mahmud Pasha; and as they foresaw that the Prince of Kermanshah was likely to attempt gaining over one of them, to set him up against the pasha and the Turkish interest, they took an oath on the sword and the Koran, that whatever letters might come to either of them from Persia or Turkey they should open them at Sheikh Khaled's house, and in presence of the whole party who then made the agreement. The first party to be tried was Osman Bey, who shortly after received a letter from the shahzaded, inviting him to come to Kirmanshah, and promising him the government of Suleimaniyeh. This letter Osman Bey immediately communicated to his brothers. Another letter of the same nature was received by Abdullah Pasha, who, contrary to their agreement, concealed it; and the fact was only made known to Mahmud Pasha by an express sent to him by the Pasha of Baghdad, who alone dared to communicate the fact to him, and who recommended Mahmud Pasha to secure his uncle. Mahmud Pasha would not believe it, and absolutely refused to take any steps against Abdullah Pasha; but at the same time he resolved to watch his motions more narrowly. At last he ascertained from Abdullah Pasha's own khaznadar that he was preparing to escape to Kirmanshah, and his immediate arrest was the consequence. Abdullah Pasha had been given up, or rather betrayed, into the hands of Mahmud Pasha the year before by the Pasha of Baghdad, in the same disgraceful manner as Hasan Bey, and left entirely at the mercy of his nephew, who, had he been of a revengeful disposition, might have dispatched him secretly or openly without loss of time, or without anyone calling him to an account; but no such thought entered the mind of Mahmud Pasha, who treated him kindly, and gave him some of the finest districts in Shehrizur for his support, besides paying off debts he had contracted during his residence in Baghdad. Indeed, he gave him more than was his share, considering the pasha's own wants and the claims of the other members of his family. Such a return, therefore, as the present, was most melancholy. Well might the Kurds say, "The jealousy of our princes is their ruin. Neither the Turks nor the Persians would ever be able to do anything against us, but by availing themselves of our divisions and the family jealousies of our chiefs!"

Such, however, was the influence of Persia

at Suleimaniyeh, that a few months after these occurrences Mahmud Pasha sent his eldest son, Abdurrahman Bey, then only seven years old, to Kirmanshah as a hostage. The shahzadeh had offered the pashalik to Osman Bey several times; upon which Mahmud Pasha insisted, at the instigation of the Pasha of Baghdad, that his brother should assume the government of Keuy Sanjiak, and the Turkish interest triumphed. The "holy beloved one," Sheikh Khaled, was involved in the fall of Osman Bey. Notwithstanding his escape was sudden and secret, he managed to carry his four wives along with him. The day before, the Kurds placed him before Abdul Kader, and the pasha stood before him to fill his pipe. After his flight, he was a kafir, or infidel, and numerous stories of his arrogance and blasphemy were told. The regular ulema and seyids hated one who, as long as his power lasted, threw them in the background, and great were their rejoicings at his downfall. At the same time, Yusuf Bey, Governor of Pizhder, took refuge with Abbas Mirza, who granted to him the government of Serdesht, in addition to that of Pizhder. Osman Bey was deprived of all his governments and lands, and sent into exile by his brother, whose regard for and fidelity to the Pasha of Baghdad could not be exceeded. But it was of no avail to him. The Turk who, in Mr. Rich's time and expressions, "had acted towards him with repeated ingratitude, treachery, and rapacity," has continued in that unamiable relation with the Kurd even to this day. The delivery of hostages to the shahzadeh, the reception of Persian envoys at his court, and other minor matters forced upon the unfortunate Kurd by his situation, were sufficient to excite distrust at Baghdad. His younger brother, Suleiman, was seduced from his allegiance and made the instrument of his ruin, and shortly before our arrival, had supplanted Mahmud as chieftain of the Bebbehs, and in further proof of a total submission to the Turks, had, as we have seen, introduced the European system of Nizam into Kurdistan.

It would be scarcely possible to excite an interest in England for a remote Kurd pasha, when scarcely any has been expressed for the misfortunes of the Patriarch of the independent Christians of the same country, but the description given by Mr. Rich of Mahmud Pasha is very touching. "It is hard," says that learned and feeling traveller, "to part even with an indifferent person for the last time; but to separate from one you esteem is bitter. Mahmud Pasha is indeed a very estimable man, and I shall always think of him with affection. His very countenance is indicative of purity, of candour, and simplicity. I never expected to meet with such a man in the East;

I fear many such are not to be met with in better climes. There is a melancholy and a tenderness in his character which render him quite interesting. He is all feeling: his better nature has risen above the degrading doctrines of Muhammedanism." But Mahmud's failings were want of resolution. At the bidding of the Pasha of Baghdad, he drove into exile, and deprived of his possessions, a brother, who, on his account, had rejected for years the offer of the chieftainship made to him by Persia; and he in his turn was made the victim of the treacherous pasha, for whom he sacrificed one brother, to be supplanted by another, less firm in his integrity. It is but fair for Suleiman Pasha, however, to say of him that he possesses many good and some high qualities. He is of a mild, serious character, and gentle, unaffected manners. His fine blue eyes give a pleasing expression of calm dignity to his countenance. He is somewhat attached to priests and dervishes, but without any admixture of fierceness or fanaticism. He is brave and energetic in the field. He has more spirit than, perhaps, any of the three brothers, only that it is tempered by a natural caution and serious

ness.

The history of the failings of the family of a remote Kurdish principality thus includes the whole history of the rights of Persia or Turkey in the contest. If from what has passed-and of which we have endeavoured to give an impartial account above-the Persians consider that there is sufficient ground for a national war, there must be great progress of civilization in the East, and the boundaries of Turkey and of Persia will soon be as well defined along independent Kurdistan as between France and Spain in the Pyrenees; but this is so far from being the case, that while Persia advances over its natural boundary-the crest of the Persian Appenines-to a contest for Shehrizur, it leaves behind it whole provinces overrun by predatory vassals, and oftentimes independent tribes, which there would be more national honour in subjecting than in effecting so small and so paltry a foreign conquest as Suleimaniyeh; and in the same manner, while Turkey intrigues for power in a remote mountainous region, the sultan's troops are unable to keep in abeyance the very Arabs that pasture the plains around the city of the khalifs. So far back as the time of Mr. Rich (1820) it was exactly the same thing. That gentleman states, on his arrival at Suleimaniyeh, "There is at present a game going on, the intricacies of which it would be difficult to unravel, but it is evident that it is a kind of ruse-contre-ruse affair. The Pasha of Baghdad is endeavouring to cheat the Pasha of Kurdistan and the Shahzadeh of Kirmanshah; while the shahzadeh is cheating both

the Pasha of Baghdad and the Pasha of Kurdistan; and all of them, both collectively and severally, are endeavouring to cheat the Porte, who will unquestionably come off the worst of the whole set." This state of things has continued to the present day, only that the march of civilization and the introduction of European dress, tactics, and policy, into Turkey and Persia, now threaten to make national affairs of what were formerly district quarrels. No European power has anything to gain by such, except those who work their own aggrandizement by instigating insurrections and wars in neighbouring territories. The statement that even twenty-five Persians have fallen in a preliminary attack upon Suleimaniyeh must be received with doubts, as our news comes through Turkish channels; had it come by Persia, the statement would have been reversed.

By the last advices from Constantinople, dated July 27th, we learn that Mahmud Pasha had been reinstated, and, at the head of four battalions, had defeated the Turkish troops, at the same time that Izzet Pasha, the prime vizier, had been intent on shewing his skill in politics by raising an insurrectionary war in Persia pendant the incursions of the Persians into Turkey. The princes alluded to in our first part were to be made the instruments of this movement, but England and Russia having guaranteed the permanency of the present dynasty, this scarcely feasible plan has fallen to the ground.

MARGARET DE LACY.

A LEGEND OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

(Concluded from p. 116.)

"THE diamond has informed you from whence this comes; when it meets your eyes the hand that wrote it will be laid in the dust. I have loathed life for years, yet have not shunned it; I now await death eagerly, although I dread it. I have wrought a fearful deed, but if there be shame, it rests on the action-there can be none in its avowal. Shrink not from my confessions-I am no supernatural being, but a mortal like yourself; listen while I reveal to you some of the mysteries of the human heart. My maternal grandfather was an Arabian chieftain; forced by the feuds of his tribe to seek for safety in Palestine, he married a native of that country, and there my mother, his only child, first saw the light; but the day that witnessed the birth of his daughter was the last of his wife's life; she expired ere she could behold the helpless infant, whom she was forced to abandon on the very threshold of existence. My grandfather never married again. Abjuring for ever the land of

his nativity, he collected the scattered remnants of his possessions, and settled in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, devoting himself to pursuits of learning, and the education of his child. There, in the deepest retirement, apart from all mankind, though surrounded by the distractions of war, the young child grew to womanhood. Nature had gifted her with more than her mother's beauty, and her father's care had bestowed upon her the learning of an Eastern sage, which, united with simplicity and inexperience, formed a curious anomaly. Could her heart have been crushed as her mind expanded, could she have ceased to feel from the moment she began to think, it might have been well; but her disposition was enthusiastic and daring, her spirit yearned for love and excitement; she was created for other times and a different country-she should have been a heroine, an empress, and not the solitary companion of a contemplative old man. It matters not to the purpose of this narrative to tell how and where my mother first became acquainted with Sir John Bisset, one of the numerous Christian knights whose credulity or rapacity induced them to throng to the Holy Land. To her young and innocent imagination he appeared the prototype of all that is most worthy of a woman's love; nor was the ardour of her attachment unrequited. Struck with her extraordinary beauty, and the novelty and romance of her lineage and education, Sir John left no art untried to win her from her father. From Leila herself he encountered no opposition, but it was long ere the brokenhearted old Arab could consent to bestow the last of his race, the star of his brightest hopes, upon a stranger and a foreigner. Love is often no more than a selfish and deceitful dream; and Leila, when bidding her aged parent farewell, thought as little of his grief as he had considered hers, whilst striving to prevent her union with her Christian lover. At the court of Guy de Lusignan, my mother became the centre of attraction and admiration, the envy of the women, the adoration of the men. My father's vanity was gratified at the successes of his wife, and he lavished on her the utmost tenderness and devotion, and all the worship that the most chivalrous of knights ever offered at an idol's shrine. The world now opened before her in its most dazzling array, and the lessons and warnings of her father were forgotten. In the court, the camp, and the cloister, Leila was alike wondered at-alike welcomed; but this brilliant existence was not destined to be of long continuance-the mirage vanished, and the deserts of life spread around her in their natural hideousness and desolation. Sir John Bisset prepared to return to England, just as Leila was called to attend

her father's death-bed. From the day of his daughter's marriage he had drooped and pined away, and the prospect of their final separation was too much for his shattered frame. Leila, about to obey her father's summons, encountered unexpected opposition from her husband; he asserted, that an imperative necessity obliged him to sail with the fleet, and sternly refused his wife's request. Rendered desperate by this barbarity, after many fruitless endeavours to excite his compassion, she left him, secretly disobeying, for the only time during their union, his harsh commands. But she had delayed her departure too long; my grandfather expired ere she could arrive to close his eyes, calling piteously, in his last moments, on his absent child. Leila was now indeed alone in the world, for could she regard her husband in the light of a friend after the discovery of his heartlessness? The impetuosity and magnanimity of her nature made her despise as much as she had before idolized him; in the figurative language of her country, she compared him to the golden fruit of the desert, tempting in its exterior, dust and bitterness within. At Cyprus she rejoined her husband, who received and treated her with the severity due to a culprit, and she with a sorrowful heart accompanied him to England.

From henceforth, my mother's existence became a cheerless and oppressive burden; the roses of her destiny had fallen around her, prematurely blighted—the thorns alone remained. Shut up in the prison-like castles of this dreary island, how different from the bright and glorious home of her youth! With none to understand her wonderful attainments, or appreciate her devoted love, she immersed herself in pursuits and studies that had lain buried for ages in the gloom of the cloister, or the cell of the mystic. These occupations, so unusual for her age and sex, soon drew the attention of my father, who, being unable to comprehend their tendency, accused her of unhallowed intercourse with beings of another world. Even my birth, which should have been a blessing, became to her but an additional source of woe: she always cherished a melancholy conviction that in me she should be punished for her abandonment of her father. And if, as I believe, the spirits of the departed watch over those they have left and loved below, alas! my mother, how truly, how sadly, hast thou seen thy forebodings verified! In renouncing the tenets of Mahometanism, Leila, although she nominally embraced Christianity, adopted in reality a mystical and symbolical religion, partly drawn from her own imaginings, partly from the philosophy of the Hindoos, which, though plausible enough in its theory, was ineffectual in practice. Hence I imbibed

from my instructress no settled rule of conduct. Like her, I became a visionarya fatalist, Though competent to discourse with premature knowledge on mankind and their history, I had but little of that far deeper wisdom which would have enabled me to dive into the intricacies of my own heart, and subdue its irregular workings. Guilt has since torn for me the veil from this sanctuary, sorrow had lifted it for my mother. My parents both died within a short period of each other, and I, a wealthy heiress, was placed under the guardianship of the king-that is to say, I became an item in his property, a rich booty wherewith to bribe or reward some of his refractory barons. My proud spirit brooked not this state of subjection; and when commanded to receive Lord Wilton as my future husband, I refused in my sovereign's presence to obey his mandate. Three reasons actuated my refusal: Lord Wilton was not a master of my own choosing, and I scorned submission-I who had ruled my mother, and dared even my stern father; besides, the notorious licence of his manners disgusted me; but I had a far deeper, far weightier reason, unknown to all--I loved his younger brother.

"Start not at this avowal, there must now be some links of sympathy between you and me, for has not Reginald Grey been to both of us, the first, the last, the only object of affection? You already begin to discover the cause of that train of events whose effects have been so terrible to you. I ask not, if you hate me; methinks I hear your gentle voice reply,

Our religion forbids us to hate;' but I implore your pity and forgiveness. I dreamed not that another could be preferred to me-such was my vanity; but from my earliest years, I had seen with exultation that my affections were an object of jealousy and contention between my parents-the one vainly striving to obtain what I had given undivided to the other; subsequently I became a prize eagerly contended for by many of the noblest of the land, whose advances I met with scorn, and repelled with haughtiness. For all this have I been punished, none but God can know how severely! As Lord Wilton, with the king's sanction, continued to urge his suit, I determined to confide to him my secret, for although my discernment prevented me from expecting aught of generosity or delicacy from one of his character, I knew him to be fond of his brother—that was the only amiable trait in his disposition. I trusted that when informed of my attachment to Reginald he would desist from his persecution of me. What then was my despair when he met my confidence with derision, and then summoning his brother to his presence, he congratulated him jocularly on his conquest, and then, for the first time,