An article in the foreign papers, dated St. Petersburgh, May 4, says: "His imperial majesty has been pleased to grant a very remarkable charter to the colony of Scotsmen who have been settled for the last four years in the mountain of Caucasus. The right and privileges accorded to the Scotsmen, who form a detached settlement in a district so thinly peopled, and bordering on the territories of so many uncivilized tribes of mahometans and heathens, are intended to increase their activity in extending trade and manufactures, and to place them, in res. pect to their immunities, on the same footing with the Evangelical Society of Sarepta. "They are to have the requisite additional allotments of land as near as possible to the village which they have already founded. Of these his majesty secures to them the perpetual possession, promising that no part of the tract allotted to their community shall ever pass, by sale, mortgage, or bill of preemption, or any other pretence, into the occupation of strangers. They are exempted from all imposts or burthens for thirty years; at the end of which period they are, instead of a poll tax, to pay their proportion of the land tax, but to remain exempt from all other imposts, from the civil and military service of the state, and from the billeting of soldiers in any of their villages. "The free exercise of their religion is confirmed to them, and the internal affairs and police of the settlement shall for ever be administered by a magistrate chosen from among themselves. His passports will be a sufficient authority for them to travel and traffic in every part of the empire, but not for leaving the country. "The chief magistrate is not, without special permission, to admit to the privileges of a colonist any Russian subject, but is at liberty to receive as settlers Kabardans, Circassians, and every other description of mahometans and heathens, being freemen, and taking the oath of allegiance to his majesty. They may also become converts to the religion of the colony. The colonists may also buy and keep Kabardan, Circassian, and other mahometan and heathen slaves. "They may freely exercise every sort of trade, art, or manufacture, and within their own limits distill and vend their spiritous liquors. The colony is placed under the special protection of the civil government of Caucaso." The oriental library of the late Tippoo Sultan, which, on the capture of Seringapatam, was preserved entire, and consists of 2000 volumes of Arabic, Persian, and Hindustane manuscripts, was shortly after that event conveyed to Calcutta, and deposited in the college of Fort William, where it much facilitated the labours and pursuits of the professors and students of those languages. This library was, in the year 1805, minutely examined, by the assistant Persian professor, captain Charles Stewart, and a descriptive catalogue, explaining the subject of each volume, memoirs of the author, &c., formed of its contents. Since that gentleman's arrival in England, and appointment to the East India Company's college at Hartford, he has revised the work, and added an appendix, containing specimens of the Persian language (accompanied by translations), from the principal authors quoted in the catalogue, rendering it not only a useful book to the oriental student, but desirable by every person wishing for information on such subjects, or curious of knowing the nature and extent of mahometan literature, which, it must be remembered, had arrived at a great degree of splendour, when Europe was overcast with ignorance and barbarism. For the convenience of foreigners, to whom the English letters may not give the exact pronunciation of an oriental word, the titles of the books will be also inscribed in the Arabic character. Thus Celia by dancing my head-ach reliev'd, And I vainly applauded her art; Till at last the fair mountebank's cheat I perceiv'd, Ah! then I see thee o'er her charms I see thee clasp her in thine arms, For the pain is now fix'd in my But soon the dear illusion flies; heart. The sad reality returns: My crimes again to memory rise, And, ah! in vain my orphan mourns: Till suddenly some keen remorse, Some deep regret her claims shall aid; For wrath that held too long its course; For words of peace too long delayed. For pardon (most, alas! denied, When pardon might have snatched from shame) And kindness, hadst thou kindness tried, Had checked my guilt, and saved my fame. And then thou'lt wish, as I do now, Thy hand my humble bed had smoothed, Wiped the chill moisture off my brow, And all the wants of sickness soothed. For, oh! the means to sooth my pain Thou'lt wish, with keen repentance wrung, I'd closed my eyes upon thy breast, Expiring, while thy faultering tongue Pardon in kindest tones expressed. sounds which I must never hear! O mother, spite of all most dear, Thy love alone I call to mind, And all thy past disdain forget; Each keen reproach, each frown unkind, That crushed my hopes when last we met; |