sued with advantage, but as several portions of the territory are adapted to form good pasture, and breed cattle, manufactures may be established both of cloth and leather, which being the chief objects of demand with the Chinese, will considerably increase the trade with that nation. The colonists shall consist of soldiers provided with a proper discharge, and sent thither by the military commandants; also of persons sentenced only to banishment, and who shall not acquire the title of colonists till after a residence of ten years, and a certificate of their skill and zeal in agriculture. The landholders shall further be permitted to send their serfs as colonists, provided they are above forty years of age, and that husbands and wives be not separated. They shall be considered as recruits furnished to the army. The government of Irkutsk are enjoined to examine and point out the most proper spots to be granted to these colonists, and to allow each of them thirty desetins of land, so that they may have enough not only for tillage, but also for pasturing cattle. The cantons inhabited by the wandering nations are however excepted. Care shall be taken that the colonists be so distributed, that each canton shall not contain above a hundred houses. The banished shall be placed behind the colonists. The government engage to build houses for the first two thousand, and will supply them with grain, implements, utensils, &c. for eighteen months. The proprietors of lands shall give the serfs they may send certain emoluments for a year, at the expiration of which the two thousand colonists shall build houses for those who shall afterwards join them. The colony shall have faithful and and attentive inspectors, who are acquainted with the business of husbandry. Each colonist shall be exempt from all taxes during ten years, but shall be liable to the annual fee, and to furnish a certain measure of corn for the maintenance of the administrators of the colony, and of the newly arrived colonists. X. WIEGLEB ON THE ORIGIN OF THE FABULOUS EVERY reader of the elder Pliny's natural history must quity; and it is much to be lamented, that many parts of the text have been corrupted through frequent and unavoidable recopying. It can not however be denied, that Pliny himself here and there betrays too much carelessness in collecting facts, facts, and too much ignorance in the science on which he writes. And although he is one of my favourite authors among the ancient classics, yet I can by no means suppress this censure, of the justice of which I shall adduce sufficient proofs. I allude to the passage so often quoted on account of its singularity, viz. lib. 7. cap. 2. Haud procul ab ipso Aquilonis exortu, specuque ejus dicto, quem locum Gesclitron appellant, produntur Arimaspi, quos diximus uno oculo in fronte media insignes: quibus assidue bellum esse circa metalla cum gryphis, ferarum volucri genere, quale vulgo traditur, eruente ex cuniculis aurum, mirâ cupiditate et feris custodientibus et Arimaspis rapientibus; multi, sed maxime illustres Herodotus et Aristeas Proconnesius, scribunt.-" Not far from the very source of the northeast wind, or the place where the cave of that wind is said to be, and named Gesclitron, are found the Arimaspians, who, as we have said, are remarkable for having but one eye in the middle of their forehead, and frequently fight for the metals with the griffins, a species of winged beasts, as is commonly asserted, that dig gold from the mines; these wild beasts watching it, and the Arimaspians taking it from them, both with surprising avidity; as many authors, but particularly those illustrious writers Herodotus and Aristeas of Proconnesus assert." Since Pliny gives his authorities, the twofold absurdity of this passage--that of a race of men with only one eye, and that of a species of winged beasts that dig gold out of the earth, watch over it, and fight for it with mankind, seem to fall upon his predecessors. But we ought to suspend our judgment till both sides are heard. With this view I have perused almost the whole of Herodotus, in whose writings I have found three passages, only one of which, in all probability, Pliny had before him; and it may be proved, that the second of the above mentioned absurdities arises from the hastiness and ignorance of that celebrated writer. The first passage I shall quote, though not the first in order, is in Herodotus's history, lib. 4. "Beyond these, as the Issedones say, are men with one eye, and the Grypes, keepers of gold. From them the Scythians received this account, we from the Scythians, and according to that language we call them Arimaspians, for with them Arima significs one, and Spou, an eye*." * Το δ' απο τότών το κατύπερθε, Ισσηδονες εισι οι λέγοντες μονοφθαλμες ανθρωπος και χρυσοφύλακες γρύπας ειναι. Παρα δε τετων Σκύθαι παραλαβονίες λεγεσι· παρα ότι Ξανθέων ημεις οι αλλοι νινομιχαμεν και ονομαζόμεν αυτας Σκυθιστι Αριμασπες, άρμα γαρ εν κέλευσε Σκύθαι, επε δε τον οφθαλμού. The The next passage is in lib. 3. "Towards the north of Europe a great abundance of gold appears, but how it is procured I cannot certainly say. It is said to be taken by force from the Grypes by the Arimaspians, a one-eyed people. But I do not believe that men are born with one eye, and having in other respects a like form and nature with other men*." Of these two passages Pliny had probably only the former before him; for had he duly considered the latter, he would have spoken with less certainty relative to the one-eyed nation. On the other hand it is evident, that Pliny entertained no doubts on the subject, and even increases the wonder by placing the single eye of this nation in their forehead, of which nothing is said in the account given by Herodotus. But even if Pliny could not discover the truth relative to this one-eyed people, he ought not to have thus embellished the story, but should have known and declared that no race of one-eyed men any where existed. Bochart conjectures, that this story arose from a name or epithet signifying that this nation, being skilled in the use of the bow, took aim by shutting one eye, and that hence their neighbours might sarcastically call them the one-eyed nation. It is further to be remarked, that in both these passages not the least ground appears for supposing the griffins to be a species of winged beasts, as Pliny describes them. For had he but referred to the following passage, which almost immediately precedes that he has quoted, and is that where Herodotus, lib. 4, himself cites Aristeas, he would not have deviated into these absurditics relative to the nature of the griffin, or described it as a winged species of beast. This passage is as follows: "But a different story is current among both Greeks and barbarians; for Aristeas of Proconnesus, the son of Caustrobius, when writing verses, relates, that he went to the country of the Issedones by the inspiration of Apollo; that the country beyond them is inhabited by the Arimaspians, a people with one eye; that beyond these are the Grypes, keepers of gold; and beyond them the Hyperboreans, who inhabit the sea coast; all of whom, except the Hyperboreans, are, through the means of the Arimaspians, continually attacking their neigh * Προς δε αρκτα της Ευρώπης πολλώ τοι πλείςος χρύσος φαινεται των σκως μεν γινομενος κ εχω και τυπο ατρεκεως είπαι· λεγεται δε υπέρ των γρυπών αρπάζειν Αριμασίες, ανδρας μονοφθαλμός· πειθομαι δε δε τετο, οπούς μεταφθεί μοι ανδρες φυσηται, φυσιν έχοντες την άλλην ομοίων τοισι άλλοισί ανθρώποισία bours, bours, and the Issed ones are driven out by the Arimaspians, and the Scythians by the Issedones*." This passage fully proves that the Griffins were not a species of beasts, but a people of Scythia; a people who inhabited a country where gold was found, perhaps in the beds of rivers, where it might be collected by the inhabitants, and sold to their neighbours the Arimaspians. The latter also, perhaps, often attacked the former in order to plunder them of this precious metal, and hence the perpetual warfare that prevailed between them. Thus then we discover the source of the errors of Pliny, who, through hastiness, and ignorance of natural history, supposes the Arimaspians to have an eye in their forehead, metamorphoses a people into a species of beasts, and makes these beasts carry on a warfare with nations of men for treasures buried in the earth-of all which not a single word is said by the very authors he himself quotes. These passages I have extracted and adduced, because they show the true and only foundation of the fabulous story of the Griffins, of which mention is made in various works of natural history even in the present century; for Pliny having once. asserted the existence of this wonderful beast, and the name being adopted in all languages, it became very easy for our superstitious ancestors to add to the many wonderful properties it has been described to possess. X. * Ουτος δε αλλος ξυνος Ελλήνων τε και βαρβάρων γενομενος λογος ειρηται. εφη δε Αριστεης ο Καυστροφία, ανηρ Προκοννήσιος, ποιέων επεα, απικεσθαι ἐς Ισσηδόνας φοιδολαμπτος γενόμενος. Ἰσσηδόνων δ' υπεροικεειν Αριμασπες ανδρας μονοφθαλμες. υπερ δε τότων της χρυσοφύλακας τράπας. Τότεων δε, τις υπερβόρεις, κατηχονίας επί θαλασσαν. τέτες ὧν πανίας, πλην Υπερ Ευρείν, αρξάντων Αριμασπων, αιει τοιπι πλησιόχωροισι επιτιθεσθαι, και υπο μεν Αριμασπών εξωθείσθαι εκ της χώρης Ισσηδονας-υπο δε Ισσήδονην Σκύθας. SHALL WE REMAIN AS WE ARE? A BOY had dirtied his hands in the garden with damp earth; his father conducted him to the spring, that might wash them clean--" Ah !” cried the boy, as he began to wash, "my hands are now much dirtier than they were! had I only remained as I was before!"-" Only proceed," retorted quietly his, father," and you will soon perceive that your complaints are folly." " "Is it not," said the father to his eldest son, who stood by his side, "just so with the greater part of mankind? All im provements appear in the beginning full of defects and imperfections; for which reason fools, exclaim- Every thing ought to remain as it has been'-Men of sense alone struggle with fortitude towards that good which is often only attained through apparent evil.” M. G. VOL. 11. P JULIUS OF TARENTUM. A TRAGEDY. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. CONSTANTINE, Prince of Tarentum. JULIUS GUIDO} his Sons. ARCHBISHOP OF TARENTUM, his Brother. COUNTESS CECILIA NIGRETTI, his Niece. BLANCA. COUNT ASPER MONTE, Julius's Friend. THE ABBESS OF THE CLOISTER OF THE JUSTINIANS, Scene; Tarentum.' Time; the Close of the fifteenth Century. ACT. I. SCENE I. A Corridor in the Palace of the Prince. Aspermonte. NAC You had recovered from love, even to melancholy,-was so tranquil this whole month! Julius. Alas, my friend, love has revenged itself for this month; it has impregnated this single night with the collective misery that should have been divided amongst its individual days. The cloud bursts, because it has not rained in proper time. Asp. I am still in the dark;-you was so easy last night; what has caused this sudden change? Julius. A dream, dreamt whilst I was awake, therefore even less than a dream. When I last night entered my apart ment, |