Tho' while I recall

Thy beauties all,

Thy accents and thy smiles endearing, Like a twining flower

Round a wither'd bower,

My dreary heart so sweetly cheering;

Perchance the tear

May unbid appear,

Through these burning lids for a moment stealing; But it quickly dries

When I turn mine eyes,

To those heavens where thou such joy art feeling.

On the Funeral of Sir John Moore,

Who fell in the battle of Corunna, 1808.
Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a Soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero was buried.
We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning;
By the struggling moon-beatns misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Nor in sheet, nor in shroud, we bound him ;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,
With his martial cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow;
But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smooth'd down his lonely pillow;
That, the foe and the stranger would tread o'er
his head,

And we far away on the billow.

Lightly they'll speak of the spirit that's gone, And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him :

But nothing he'll reck if they let him sleep on In a grave where a Briton has laid him.

But half of our heavy task was done
When the clock told the hour for retiring;
And we heard by the distant random gun
That the foe was suddenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, we raised not a stone,
But left him alone with his glory!

SYRIA.

PALMYRA.

(From the Modern Traveller.)

(Continued from Page 202.)

Captain Mangles agrees in representing the first view of the ruins of Palmyra as most magnificent, although he was disappointed in the det al." On opening upon the views," he says," as seen from the valley of the Tombs, we were much struck with the picturesque effect of the whole, presenting altogether the most imposing sight of the kind we had ever seen. It was rendered doubly interesting by our having travelled through a wilderness destitute of a single building, from which we suddenly opened upon these innumerable columns and other views, on a sandy plain on the skirts of the Deserts. Their snow-white appearance, contrasted with the yellow sand, produced a very striking effect."

Great, however, he proceeds to say, was their disappointment, when on a minute examination, they found that there was not a single column, pediment, architrave, portal, frieze, or other architectural remnant worthy of admiration. None of the columns exceeded forty feet in height, or four feet in diameter; those of the boasted avenue have little more than thirty feet of altitude. Whereas the columns of Baalbec have nearly sixty feet in height, and seven in diameter, supporting a most rich and beautifully wrought epistylium, of twenty feet more; and the pillars are constructed of only three pieces of stone, whilst the smallest columns of Palmyra are formed of six, seven, or eight parts. In the centre of the avenue, however, there are four granite columns, each of one single stone, about thirty feet high. One only is still standing. "Take any part of the ruins seperately," says this traveller, "and they excite but little interest; and altogether, we judged the visit to Palmyra hardly worthy of the time, expense, anxiety, and fatiguing journey, through the wilderness, which we had undergone to visit it. The projecting pedestals in the centre of the columns

of the great avenue have a very unsightly appearance. There is also a great sameness in the architecture, all the capitals being Corinthian, excepting those which surround the temple of the Sun These last were fluted, and, when decorated with the brazen Ionic capitals, were doubtless very handsome; but the latter being now deficient, the beauty of the edifice is entirely destroyed. The sculpture, as well of the capitals of the columns as of the other ornamental parts of the doorways and buildings, is very coar and bad. The three arches at the end of the avenue, so beautiful in the designs of Wood and Dawkins, are excessively insignificant: the decorated frieze is badly wrought, and even the devices are not striking. They are not to be compared to the common portals of Thebes, although the Egyptians were unacquainted with the arch. Every thing here is built of a very perishable stone; if it deserves the name of marble, it is very inferior even to that of Baalbec; and we are inclined to think, the ruins of the latter place are much more worthy the traveiler's notice, than those of Palmyra.”

If inferior, however, to Baalbec, and not to be compared to Thebes, it is only by comparison that these remains of ancient magnificence can be with any propriety thus slightly estimated; and when this traveller speaks of them as hardly repaying the toils and expense of the journey, it must be recollected that he was already satiated with the wonders of Egypt. Yet taken as a tout ensemble, he admits that they are more remarkable by reason of their extent, (being nearly a mile and half in length,) than any which he had met with; they have the advantage, too, of being less encumbered with modern fabrics than almost any ancient ruins. Exclusive of the Arab village of Tadmor, which occupies the Perestyle court of the temple of the Sun, and the Turkish buryingplace, there are no obstructions whatever to the antiquities. The Temple itself is disfigured, indeed, by modern works, but it is still a most majestic object. The square court which enclosed it, was 679 feet each way, and

a double range of columns was continued all round the inside. In the middle of the vacant space, the Temple presents another front of 47 feet by 124 in depth Around it runs a peristyle of 140 columns, and what is very extraordinary, the gate faces the setting, not the rising sun. The soffit of the gate, which is lying on the ground, presents a zodiac, the signs of which are the same as ours On another soffit is a bird similar to that of Baalbec, sculptured on a ground of stars. "It is a remark worthy of the observation of historians," says M. Volney, "that the front of the portico has twelve pillars, like that of Baalbec; but what artists will esteem still more curious, is, that these two fronts resemble the gallery of the Louvre, built by Perrault, long before the existence of the drawing which made us acquainted with them; the only difference is, that the columns of the Louvre are double, whereas those of Baalbec and Palmyra are detached."

Captain Mangles speaks of the Tombs as very interesting, their construction being different from any thing he had seen. They consist of a number of square towers, three, four, and five stories high, not ornamented on the exterior, but adorned within, in many instances, with sculpture and fluted Corinthian pilasters. In one, the ceiling was ornamented like that of the peristyle court of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, with the heads of different deities, and disposed in diamond-shaped divisions: the paint was still very perfect. The marble folding-doors of some of the grander tombs within the walls were still erect: they were carved in pannels, but ill executed. "The uncommon magnificence of these monuments for the dead," says Mr. Wood, "seems borrowed from Egypt, to which country they of all people, come nearest in that sort of expense. Zenobia was originally of Egypt; she spoke their language perfectly, and affected much to imitate in many things her ancestress Cleopatra. But, that they borrowed some of their customs from Egypt before her time, seems plain from a discovery we made, to our

great surprise, of mummies in their sepulchral monuments. The Arabs told us, there had been vast numbers of these mummies in all the sepulchres, but they had broken them up in hopes of finding treasure. They were tempted by the rewards we offered, to make strict search for an entire one, but in vain; which disappointed our hopes of seeing something curious in the sarcophagus, or perhaps of meeting with hieroglyphics. Among the fragments we carried off, is the hair of a female, plaited exactly in the manner commonly used by the Arabian women at this time. Thus we see that this people copied after great models in their manners, their virtues, and their Vices. Their funeral customs were from Egypt, their luxury was Persian, and their letters and arts were from the Greeks. How much is it to be regretted that we do not know more of a country which has left such monuments of its magnificence; where Zenobia was queen, and where Longinus was first minister!"

With respect to Palmyra as well as Baalbec, history is almost entirely silent; except what can be learned from the inscription, all our information respecting them amounts to little more than probable conjecture. "It is the natural and common fate of cities," remarks Mr. Wood, "to have their memory longer preserved than their ruins. Troy, Babylon, and Memphis are known only from books, while there is not a stone left to mark their situation. But here we have two instances of considerable towns outliving any account of them. Our curiosity about these places is raised by what we see, rather than by what we read; and Baalbec and Palmyra are in a great measure left to tell their own story. Shall we attribute this to the loss of books, or conclude that the ancients did not think those buildings so much worth notice as we do? If we can suppose the latter, it seems to justify our admiration of their works. Their silence about Baalbec, gives authority to what they say of Babylon; and the works of Palmyra, scarcely mentioned, become vouchers for those so much celebrated of Greece and Egypt.

That Palmyra occupies the site of the Tadmor (or Thedmor) of the Scriptures we learn from Josephus; and in fact, it still retains among the Arabs its ancient name. The natives firmly believe, Mr. Wood informs us, that the existing ruins were the works of King Solomon; and they affect to shew you his seraglio, his harem, the tomb of a favourite concubine, with several other particulars. "All these mighty things," say they, "Solyman Ebn Daoud (Solomon the son of David) did by the assistance of spirits. King Solomon is the Merlin of the East; and to the genii in his service the Persians, as well as the Aribs, ascribe all the magnificent remains of ancient arts. But notwithstanding all that has been said on this subject as to whom those works are to be ascribed, the whole is enveloped in a thick cloud, and it appears impossible possitively to determine.

LE CURE ET LE LOUP.

Un Curé de village, indulgent, debonnaire,
Qui comprenoit, on peù s'enfant.
Le Latin de son Bréviaire,

Un érudit, nn Docteur, en un mot,

Ne restoit pas oisif dans son saint presbitére.
Il entreprit une éducation

Fort singulière : il ent l'a bition
D'instruire on Loup; un pareil écolieri
Etoit d'un naturel peu facile à plier;
Par l'alphabet il falloit commencer;

A fat le premier son qu'il apprit' non sans peine;
Il parvint, à le prononcer,

A le hurler, au bon d'une semaine,

Au B, vite on le fit passer.

Ce fut bien pis, cent ois le Maître recommence,
Et perdant tout ensemble espoir et patience,
A sa bèsogne est prêt de renoncer,
L'instituteur enfin, pour mieux se faire entendre
Imita le eri da mouton;

Il cria bé..bé- Le Loup après mainte lecon,
L'apprit si bien qu'il parvint à le rendre.
Notre nouvean Docteur apres cela sans bruit
Quitte son maître, et va sans plus attendre,
De son savoir cueillir le fruit.

Il va criant autour des bergeries;

Be! Bé! Bé!-moutons d'aller grand train,
Et les pauvres bêtes soudain

Dans la greale dn lonp se trouvent englouties, Aprés cela gardons nous d'enseigner les méchang;

Dans leurs mains, qu'on instruit à choisir leurs victimes,

No. 26.]

Francis Horace.

ESSAYS ON SOCIAL ABUSES.

No. 1.

(For the Cornish Magazine.) We pride ourselves, with good reason, on the liberality of our age; and justly boast of the freedom of the Stateyet, it is evident that the majority of our countrymen are galled and shackled by a restraint which is inconsistent with the enjoyment of rational liberty. There are modes of tyranny not directly chargeable on any form of government, but which are even more oppressive than some kinds of political despotism. They originate in public prejudices, and are maintained by some prevailing passions. Most men complain of their oppression, yet all their slaves are voluntary ones. The sources of such power are Ostentation of WealthArrogance of Runk, and Influence of Opinion; their dominion is exercised over the mind itself, and in the mind only can they be attacked and conquered. The tyranny we speak of is not an imaginary or unimportant evil; its effects are felt every where, and by their pernicious influence they destroy whatever is lovely and profitable in the intercourse of Society. Its direct tendency is to separate man from his fellows, by calling into play every selfish principle. Wherever men assemble together in the house of pleasure or the house of God-the cup of enjoyment is embittered, or the offering of devotion defiled by the unholy and unnatural barriers which passion and

VOL. III.

[Price 4d.

prejudice have raised up between man and man. It invades the privacy of domestic life-represses the best emotions of the heart,-excites and encourages those which are most mean and sordid. That this is no idle declamation may be proved by directing our attention to what is constantly passing around us.

Of all the means which are adopted to secure applause-ostentation of riches is the most despicable. He who expects in this way to gain the esteem of others, insults their judg ment,-first by arrogating a superiority when nature perhaps has denied it ;secondly, because their folly and meanness are made the basis of his calculation.

Wealth is a thing altogether distinct from its possessor, and however much we may be disposed to value it, or admire its glare and glitter, we ought not to transfer our regards to the man who may possess it in common with the mean, the ignorant, and the vicious. Yet this is a prevailing error, and it is a severe satire on mankind, that riches, like charity "can hide a multitude of sins." What gives an undue importance to riches, is the convention implied by the present constitution of Society, that a man must support his rank by a proportionate style of living and expenditure. And though this law may have numerous exceptionsit is generally received. The question of rank will be discussed afterwards; but it may be here remarked, that any