morable in history, his gracious majesty pronounced the auspicious words, "rise Sir Richard Phillips, Sheriff of London!"

And now, gentle reader, as Hervey says, pause and ponder, and ponder and pause, and reflect and moralize on the virtuous energy of this "great and good man;" contemplate his progress from the clod and the coulter to the birch and linsey wolsey; and onward where the paths of typography led him to the gaol, and threatened him with the pillory; thence to his becoming the arbiter of the fate of authors, and a Bedlamite; at length to city honours, maces, gilt chains, and knighthood-" and greater yet, by the TO BE hereafter."

Visions of glory spare my aching sight,

Ye unborn ages crowd not on my soul !

The desires of men are vain! The honourable acts of Sir Richard Phillips succeed each other, as wave urges wave, it were superfluous therefore to wish his biographer had postponed this publication a few weeks, that he might have effectually chastised the audacity of the attorney-general on a late occasion, in calling Sir Richard Phillips "the greatest fool that ever trod the earth;" and have punished the temerity of the author of My Pocket Book," for proving his falsehood, and for asserting that "a calf, though it may make a very good knight,† is wholly unfit for a writer of travels, bookseller, or sheriff." Let us not, however, indulge fruitless regret; rather let us be grateful to his biographer, for having thus traced the progress of Sir Richard to his "May" of life," and wait in patient but confident expectation of his “last dying speech and confession."

Travels in Turkey, Italy, and Russia, during the Years 1803, 4, 5,

and 6, with an Account of some of the Greek Islands. By Thomas Macgill. 2 Vols. 12mo. Murray, London. Constable, Edinburgh. 1808.

MR. MACGILL is a merchant, and, for presenting his travels to the public, avails himself of the old excuse-the solicitation of friends. The public in general, and commercial men in particu lar, will, we doubt not, accept the apology, and be thankful to these friends; the former for some amusement and the latter for We confess, for our part, that

much interesting information.

though this merchant has evidently stepped out of his province, he appears to us in a more favourable light than many traders in letters, who have written travels with what they have deemed a display of learning and philosophy.

Of the entertainment afforded in these volumes, we shall now give the reader a variety of specimens. Mr. Macgill dates his first letter from Venice, April, 1804. The French had visited Venice," and to the serenades of the lover, to the voice of pleasure and merriment, have succeeded the groans of indigence and misery." This they owed to the conduct of the Savi, who pusillanimously persisted in neutrality. He draws a melancholy picture of the distress of the Venetians.

"It is scarcely possible to depict the miserable situation of the nobles. The Abbé -, a man of talents and of probity, with whom I was very intimate, one morning at breakfast related to me with tears in his eyes, the following circumstance, which he said, had happened only the night before. The Abbé had passed that evening at the house of a friend, in the course of it, they were attracted and charmed by the singing of a female in the street, immediately underneath the window. The pleasure of the good Abbé was, however, soon converted into melancholy; he thought he recognized the voice of a friend, and hastened to the street to ascertain the truth. The person was so muffled up, that he could not discover her. He ran to her house, and his repeated knocks at the door were at length answered from within by her children, who informed him, that their mother had gone out with their father and a friend, to procure something for supper, and that having now no servant, they were locked in till their return. Being now persuaded that the songstress was his old friend, he returned to her, and with the utmost regret, discovered that she was the Countess C-r, who was thus singing in the streets, in the hope of collecting a few soldi to purchase food for her starving children." P. 6, 7.

At p. 12 he describes the Gondola.

"You never saw a gondola : it is a barge of considerable length, and from its peculiar construction, sits very steady in the water; it is painted black by order of government, and has on its prow, a piece of flat iron, highly polished, resembling the neck of a horse; the after part of the boat, is several feet out of the water, and almost on the point of the stern stands the rower, who having from long practice acquired great dexterity, steers his gondola with one oar, with much exactness and velocity. I mention the one-oared gondola, because I admire it the most, and think it by far more singular than any other. I never saw men stand and row so elegantly as the Venetian gondoliers. In the

middle of the boat is a small place covered with black velvet, which much resembles a hearse; in the front of this is a curtain, at each side, a window with Venetian blinds, and on the part next the stern, is a cashion, large enough for two people, underneath each window is a stool, on a level with the cushion, so that the persons within are placed in a reclining posture. These gondolas will turn a corner at full speed, and it is very rarely that any accident happens to them; the rowers have certain expressions which they repeat to one another in order to give warning of their approach, and which serve as a mutual direction which side of the canal they are to take." P. 12, 13.

Horse-racing.

"The method of horse-racing in Italy is singular: the horses run without riders, and to urge them on, little balls with sharp points in them are hung to their sides, which when the horse is employed in the race, act like spurs; they have also pieces of tin foil fastened on their länder parts, which, as the animals rush through the air, make a loud rnstling noise and frighten them forward; I was much amused with the horse-races at Ancona. A gun is fired when they first start, that preparations may be made to receive them at the farther end! when they have run half-way another gun is fired, and a third when they arrive at the goal. To ascertain without dispute which wins the race, across the winning post, a thread is stretched, dipped in red lead, which the victor breaking, it leaves a red mark on his chest, and this mark is decisive. The first race was declared unfair, as one horse had started before the rest, and the governor ordered anotlier to be run the following evening." P. 22, 23.

What is added gives us a fine description of the hardihood and bravery of the Italian soldier.

"To guard the course, a great number of Roman soldiers under arms were ranged on each side of it, from one end to the other. The morning after the first race, the wind blew from the north, and was rather cold; I was sitting with his excellency the governor, Signor Vidoni, when a messenger arrived from the general, with his compliments, requesting that the race might be deferred till another day, as he thought the weather too cold to put his troops under arms; the governor replied to him, that as the weather was not too cold for the ladies, he thought it was not too much so for Roman soldiers.' I have seen on a day which only threatened rain, a guard of Romans turn out, every one of which had an umbrella under his arm, the drummer and fifer alone excepted." P. 23, 24.

He writes from Smyrna that sailing in the canal of Scio

"A circumstance occured here, which although at the time it alarm ed me not a little, afforded me afterward much entertainment. Being

1

in bed one morning about four o'clock, I heard the captain, who was a rigid Roman Catholic, come into the cabin, and striking on his breast, call on the Holy Virgin in the most energetic manner, "Santa Maria, Santa Maria, what have I done to merit this treatment? Save me, save › me!" I looked out of the state room, and asked him, what was the matter? "What!” cried he, "did you not feel us strike? We shall be on shore presently?" I sprang out of bed and ran to the cabin windows, when I found we were about a quarter of a mile from the land, in very deep water, and that the sea was as smooth as a looking-glass, but a gentle counter-current was carrying us along shore, and the cap tain was afraid of a promontory of land, which was still at a considerable distance. Slipping on some clothes, I went upon deck, where I found that the same consternation had seized the whole crew; on one, of the finest mornings that ever arose, some were invoking the Virgin, others calling on Saint Antonio, and one, a greater fool than the rest, had lighted a holy candle, which had been blessed at Padua, and given to him by his confessor, to preserve him in any great danger; all this time the helm was abandoned, and the ship entirely left to herself. I took the helm, and calling to some who were not quite so devout as the rest, to brace round the head yards, a gentle zephyr filled them, and we swung round the point without the smallest difficulty or danger. Every one now extolled his own saint above that of another, and even quarrelled about which of them had preserved us; in this altercation the fel low with the candle was louder than any of the rest, and attributed to that, the salvation of the ship and of our lives." P. 46-48.

Speaking of the trade of Scio, which is "pretty considerable,” he takes an opportunity of paying the ladies a very elegant compliment

"Many of her articles of export are valuable; amongst these is gum mastic, a certain quantity of which is retained for the use of the Sultan, and for the consumption of all the Turkish ladies in his dominions, who chew it continually; it is said to keep their teeth clean, although some alledge that it gives rise to wantonness; but, as the fair sex in Turkey have not the same freedom of speech which is allowed to females in other countries, they probably use it to keep their jaws in motion." P. 48, 49.

At page 54 we are reminded of Homer the vinosus

"At about an hour's walk from the town, there is a grove in which it is said, Homer held his school; some seats are still shewn there, on which tradition says, his scholars sat. Scio is one of the seven cities which lay claim to the honour of having given birth to that poet; near this grove is made a delicious wine, called " Homer's wine:" it is rich and sweet, but will not bear carriage." P. 54, 55.

Still writing from Smyrna, he introduces Homer again at p. 71. Here he was shewn the site of a school, kept by the Mæonian bard, also "the Garden of Homer, and Homer's Grotto, in which it is asserted he wrote his Iliad," of part or of the whole of which any one may believe what he pleases.

The discovery of hidden treasures, of which it seems there are many in Turkey, appears to be a thing by no means desirable.

“A Raajah, or one belonging to the Turkish empire, who is not a Mussulman, informed an English merchant at Smyrna secretly, that he had discovered a spot which concealed much treasure; the laws of the empire are so barbarous, that if any person makes a discovery of this kind, and appropriates the riches to his own use, in case of his being detected, which generally happens, he is punished with the utmost rigour, for stealing what they say belongs to the Sultan; and the punishment is inflicted, not only on himself and family, but also on all his relations; should he, on the contrary, reveal to the government where a treasure lies concealed, he is sentenced to the bastinado or some other torture, until he confess that he has participated in his discovery.”— P. 79, 80.

The most extraordinary thing observed by Mr. M. is the state of society in Smyrna-" They are all politicians," says he, "and sometimes dispute on the subject of politics, but always with good sense and good humour." P. 96.

Turkey is much subject to the plague.

"The plague, however," he, says "is not so dangerous as many epidemical diseases: for, if proper precautions were taken, its ravages might soon be stopped: the reason why they are not is, that the Turks are predestinarians, and refuse to employ any means, either for the prevention of the disorder, or for their recovery: they are now, however, beginning to see their folly, and to inquire why the Franks do not die of the plague." P. 119..

"The precautions used against the plague by Christians are simple and effectual; their houses, that is to say, the best houses in Frank Street, are for many reasons built like little fortresses, and in general extend from the street down to the water side; at each of them there is a strong gate, mostly of iron, to prevent their being set fire to, and within that one toward the street, at the distance of ten feet from it and each other, are two more formed of spars. When the pestilence rages violently, both the outer and inner gates are kept constantly locked, and the master, or some confidential person has the keys. When any one rings at the gate, the door is opened by a cord, and the person is adZ-VOL. III.*