friend Sancha, i added, "Set a b on horseback and he will ride to the devil," so away I went.

and

You surprise me exceedingly," said a gentle, man to his companion, as I came up behind them at the cross; "for of all the men I know, he is among the last, I should have supposed could have been accused of seditious practices; for it is well known, that he has on all occasions been one of the steadiest supporters of our constitution that could any where be found. You must certainly be mistaken." I afsure you, Sir, I am not.' "Well, this is driving the joke too far; and I wish they may be aware of the consequences. When they prosecutedand [Here my correspondent had several names well known in this place at present, which I supprefs,] every one was satisfied that those who had been evidently propagating seditious doctrines fhould be punished for so doing. But if a man, the whole tenor of whose conduct and writings, has been to inculcate the most moderate and rational ideas respecting government, fhall be subjected to the dread of prosecutions, imprisonment, and fines, because he has permitted an occasional freedom of censure, of abuses that all the world must condemn, I fhould think it, but a step farther to establish the Venetian state Inquisition among us. I more, therefore, you must be mistaken. No person of sense can ever think of making such an attempt in the present time. Besides, it were most ridiculous to make choice of such a man to try their hand upon; as it notorious to all who have read his writings, that these have tended, perhaps more than any

say once

others to allay the popular ferments that lately prevailed; and"-Here he was interrupted by a friend wishing him the compliments of the season, so that I was obliged to go on and leave them; though I had a great desire to stay that I might have learnt who the person was to whom he alluded. Perhaps, Mr Editor, you may be able to guess who he was. But whoever it was, if the character given of him be just, I am perfectly of the same opinion with the speaker for our constitution is so sound, notwithstanding all that has been said about it, that there is no fear but it will afford protection to any guiltless person. Those who are best acquainted with the history of that constitution, know, that all the most valuable privileges it has secured to the people, were obtained in consequence of indiscreet attempts having been made to infringe these privileges.

Wishing you the compliments of the season, and all succefs to your useful publication, I remain, as heretofore, your friend, as you are pleased to call me, TIMOTHY HAIRBRAIN*.

Jan. 2. 1793.

*The Editor might perhaps form a probable corjecture in answer to the query of his correspondent; but this he at present declines; being perfectly convinced, that if any thing of the kind hinted at had been intended, t could only have proceeded from haste and misconception; and that no harm could result from it to any innocent person. It is only ill informed persons who can entertain any dread of the effect of arbitrary proceedings in the present day; nor can the Editor suppose that any person in power has so little sense as ever to entertain an idea of the pofsibility of effecing any thing of that sort just now, even in Scotland.

THE NOBLE HERMIT, A FRAGMENT SOLILOQUÝ.
For the Bee.

HAIL lovely morn! Thou vivifying beam
That gilds the orient, chacing to the west
The damps and fhadows in the rear of night,
All hail Ye blooming fields, ye vernal groves
Afray'd with beauty, where a thousand birds
Mingle their melodies, I greet you wel!!
Ye murm'ring brooks, ye rills and lofty rocke,
Incumbent o'er this solitary vale,

My grateful salutation ye deserve;

For ye have granted me benign repose,

Sweet peace of mind, and freedom from the goad
Of tyrannising passion, precious gifts

To him that estimates their worth aright!
More valuable far than wealth or pow'r !
In vain amid the din and pomp of war,
'Mid clanging armour, burnish'd helm and spears,
And prancing steeds, caparison'd, and all
The dread array of marshall'd hosts, in vain
I sought to find them! Calm contentment flies
To fhades and solitude. I ne'er beheld
Her placid eye amid the glare of courts.
The lofty palace, the stupendous dome,
The fretted roof; the sculptur'd pillar, hewn
With rare device of masonry; the hall
With minstrelsy resounding, and the feast,
What are they the resort of quiet? No;
Of envy rather, and of bitter hate.

Calm quiet! have I found thee? Yet one care
Alarms my bosom, like a sullen cloud
Flying athwart the vernal fky. My Armine,
The prop of my declining age, the solace
And the treasure of my soul, brooks not
A life of lone retirement and of ease;
Eager he pants for arms, and longs, by deeds
Of daring hardihood, to mark his name.
Eut I must med'cine this his fund conceit,
And that right fkilfully; for if he knew
The fame of his high ancestry, deriv'd
From Odin, and the purple tide that flows
Impetuous in his veins, transmitted pure
Through a long line of heroes, and that I,
Beneath the banner of the holy Cross,
Fought not inglorious, when bold Godfrey led
The flow'r of Europe to Jerusalem,

Not all the wisdom of the cloister'd sage,
Not all the rev'rence to his father due,

Could rein his fiery soul..

CESSFORD NEAR TWEEDSIDE,

October 2. 1792.

VOL. Xiii.

I

A. L.

CHARACTER Of the arabs BY SIR WILLIAM JONES. ALL the genrine Arabs of Syria whom I knew in Europe, those of Yeumen which I saw in the island of Hinzuan, whither many had come from Maskat for the purpose of trade, and those of Hojoz whom I have met in. Bengal, form a striking contrast to the Hindoo inhabitants of these provinces. Their eyes are full of vivacity, their speech voluble and articulate, their deportment manly and dignified, their apprehension quick, their minds always present and attentive, with a spirit of independence appearing in the countenances even of the lowest among them. Men will always differ in their ideas of civilization; each measuring it by the habits and prejudices of his own country. But if courtesy and urbanity, a love of poetry and eloquence, and the practice of exalted virtues, be a fuster measure of perfect society, we. have certain proof that the people of Arabia, both on plains and in cities, in republican and monarchial states, were eminently civilized, for many ages before their conquest of Persia.

It is deplorable, that the ancient history of this majes tic race fhould be so little known in detail.-The manners of the Hejazi Arabs, which have continued from the time of Solomon to the present age, were by no means favourable to the cultivation of arts; and as to sciences, we have no reason to believe that they were acquainted with any; for the mere amusement of giving names to stars, which were useful to them in their pastoral or predatory rambles through the deserts, and in their observations on the weather, can hardly be considered as a material part of astronomy. The only arts in which they pretended to

excellence (I except horsemanship and military accomplishments) were poetry and rhetoric. That we have none of their compositions in prose before the Koran, may -be ascribed, perhaps, to the little skill which they seem to have had in writing; to their predilection in favour of poetical measure; and to the facility with which verses are committed to memory. But all their stories prove that they were eloquent in a high degree, and possessed wonderful powers of speaking, without preparation, in flowing and forcible periods. I have never been able to discover what was meant by their book called Rawásìm, but suppose that they were collections of their common or customary law.

Writing was so little practised among them, that their old poems which are now accessible to us, may almost be considered as originally unwritten. And I am inclined to think that Samuel Johnson's reasoning on the extreme imperfection of unwritten languages, was too general; since language, that is only spoken, may, nevertheless, be highly polished, by a people who, like the ancient Arabs, make the improvement of their idiom a national concern, appoint solemn afsemblies for the purpose of displaying their poetical talents, and hold it a duty to exercise their children in getting by heart their most approved compo.

sitions.

So great, on the whole, was the strength of parts or capacity, either natural or acquired from habit, for which the Arabs were ever distinguished, that we cannot be surprised when we see that blaze of genius, which they displayed as far as their arms extended; when they burst, like their own dike of Arim, through their ancient limits, and spread, like an inundation, over the great empire of Iran. That a race of Tázis. or Coursers, as the Persians