sive manner in which the Board of that Company urged Mr. Jackson to communicate his observations on the means eligible to be adopted in future for the redemption of British wrecked mariners, deserves more praise than we have language to describe, and reflects the highest honour on that Company. Every British sailor will be gratified to reflect that his brother sailors, who may be so unfortunate as to be cast on that desert coast, have only to suggest to the Arab who first claims him as his captive, to conduct him to the district or the neighbourhood of Wednoon; and then write to the English Consul at Mogador, and he will, without delay, receive the money for his redemption! After recruiting himself for three days longer, Scott accompanied by the Moor set off, and arrived safe at Mogador in five days, travelling about thirty miles a day. From the neighbourhood of Wednoon, Scott saw to the eastward the ridge of Atlas, covered with snowt, which he was told remained on them all the year round. At Mogador, and at Wednoon, the language spoken is called by Scott Schlecht. He received every attention from Mr. Willshire during his stay at Mogador, who paid his ransom to the Moor, on account of the Ironmongers Company of London. Scott reached Mogador on the 31st of August, left it on the 11th of November in the Brig Isabella of Aberdeen, and arrived in London 9th of December, 1816. In Major Rennell's observations on the geography of Mr. Scott's route, annexed to the foregoing narrative in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, it is said, in substance, page 236:— "As Scott travelled probably as fast as he could go four days and nights, and part of the fifth day, it is supposed he travelled over one hundred and ten miles of distance in a direct line; this, it is said, will place Ourerah at that distance S. W. of Cape Noon, and directly opposite to Fortaventura; then the province of Till is said to extend to the south of Ourera; after which comes the Sahell, or flat coast, invisible at sea; but if this were the case, the wreck must necessarily have been south of Cape Bojador, as that Cape is not more than a hundred and twenty or a hundred and thirty miles south of Cape Noon.". Wednoon, or the river o Noon, abounds in ee.s. Arabic for eels, not Nun. If the river is spelt Noon, the Noon, not Nun. cape should be spelt also Noon, or Nune, is the + Mr. Jackson confirms this report, and says, he could see clearly the same mountains from Santa Cruz, which were continually covered with snow.-Vide Shebeeny's Account of Timbuctoo, &c. page 94. This unquestionably means the Shelluh language; but the Shelluh language, although it is the language of Wednoon, is not generally spoken at Mogador, except among the boatmen and fishermen; the upper and middling ranks speak the Arbea, or vulgar Arabic. This, therefore, is apparently an error, as there is no doubt that the wreck of the Montezuma was north of Bojador, and south of Noon, where the land is very flat, the current strong towards the coast, and the atmosphere hazy, as marked down in the Map of West Barbary, &c. in Shabeeny's Account of Timbuctoo, page 55. Lat. N. 28°. 20. Long. W. 13o: and this is the Sachel, or (more properly) the Sahell spoken of by Scott, viz. between Lat. N. 26 and 28; in corroboration of which we are informed by Mr. Jackson, that the mariners whom he redeemed from time to time, whilst resident at Santa Cruz, all, invariably told him, that they were wrecked on this flat, invisible, and hazy coast, called by the Arabs Sahell, and lying between 26°. and 28°. of N. Lat. We think the Major's calculation of ten miles a-day for the caravan travelling, is rather under the mark. We also think, with all deference to the Major's calculations, that the lake Dehebbie Dibbie, or Tieb, (which, by-the-by, is never called Dolomie, or the dark lake) is larger than he makes it. The boats, described by Scott, on the Bahar Tieb, are exactly the same in fashion and construction as those used at Santa Cruz, at Messa, and at Wednoon; differing only in size, and being joined together with nails; those of the Bahar Tieb being twice or three times as large. Mr. Jackson tells us, that he has frequently gone in them at the rate of three miles an hour with six oars, in calm weather; but with a hayk for a sail, and a slight breeze, they go five miles an hour, or rather more, when assisted also by the oar. Now, Scott says, they embarked on their return (see Edin. Phil. Jour. p. 225) at noon, and reached the opposite shore at six o'clock, A. M. next morning, being a traverse of eighteen hours, at five miles an hour: this would give ninety miles for the width of the lake; which, from the circumstance, mentioned by Mungo Park, that the canoes, in crossing from W. to E., lose sight of land one whole day, we presume is a tolerably accurate calculation. FROM THE ITALIAN OF LUIGI ALAMANNI. SAYS Helen to her husband dear, Whilst back from Troy returning, Down her cheeks streaming many a tear, "I've not inconstant proved to thee, Though Paris did not mind me, And with my person made too free, 66 My soul I left behind me." That," said her spouse, "I well believe Is true-nor need I doubt you; The part you left was (I perceive) STANZAS, WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS. BY THE AUTHOR OF 66 ASTARTE," &c. I'VE plunged in every wild extreme, That round the shrine of Pleasure flows;- DOMESTIC LOVE! compared to THEE! Sweeter than Passion's fever'd sigh, Like mists before the morning beam! That make life's rugged pathway blest; That peace which heals the wounded breast! It is not in the revel loud, At Mirth, or Fashion's midnight shrine, Soft opiates o'er the burning brow; As priestcraft, wedlock's silken chain,— Its power, in sorrow, or in pain? And THOU, who in life's summer hour, Who saidst," At sight of human ties, The rosy god affrighted flies, Nor leaves one ray of bliss behind :” Oh!-didst thou know how false, how vain, For where two youthful hearts unite, And own one faith, one fate, one name, ON THE CHOICE OF PROFESSIONS. "Consult the genius of the place in all."-POPE. UPON the choice of his profession or trade a man's fortune in life materially depends, prosperity and comfort may be said to hang on the decision; and, by thwarting a peculiar bias, or evident preference, we may crush ambition, nullify genius, and substitute heartless labour and profitless exertion for energy, eminence, and fame. Few are gifted with universal talents, and few, perhaps, are able to pursue the particular study or occupation best adapted to their bodily and mental abilities. Powers and capacity may exist unknown even to their possessor, which, if circumstances had brought into notice, might have changed the whole current of his life, and altered and improved his destiny. When by some favouring chance a man discovers the peculiar bent of his genius, and when by a happy fate he is enabled to follow its direction, the foundation is laid for future eminence, though much subsequent exertion and continued perseverance will be requisite to raise the superstructure. To produce this exertion the spur of ambition is useful, but still more effectual is the sharper prick of poverty. When a nobleman showed a picture he had painted to Poussin, and asked his opinion of it, the artist replied, "If you were but poor, my Lord, you would become a fine painter.' It is not solely in the higher pursuits of science and literature that a predisposing and decided genius is necessary to perfection. Not only would Mozart have been an indifferent philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton an inferior musician, Milton a bad painter, and Raphael a second-rate poet; but who can doubt that Birch was intended by Nature to make mock-turtle soup, Colinet to play quadrilles, and Matthews to exercise the risible muscles of his fellow countrymen? As to the latter, when he first popped his droll face into the world, the doctor and the nurse must have held their sides at the sight of it, and laughed by anticipation at the mouth out of which it is agreeable to the nature of things that nothing but jests should proceed. I am occasionally disposed to yield an assent to Spurzheim's theory, and to believe that the organs of the head irresistibly impel us to peculiar pursuits; and so strong is this tendency, that, if fortune will not assist nature, nature will sometimes overcome fortune. For instance, a lady with a genius for letterwriting writes on without any thing to say; one with the organ of timidity is frightened without sufficient cause, makes a mouse do as well as a lion, and screams at spiders instead of scorpions; and another, precluded by birth from exercising her histrionic talents upon a stage, acts a part all her life long, and only assumes her real character in the retirement of her closet, and in the presence of her waiting-woman. There are instances, however, of woful opposition between the capabilities and the destinies of men. Wood was never designed for an orator, nor Lord Thurlow for a poet; how many peers were intended for hackney-coachmen; how many ladies for milliners; how many quadrille-dancers would have found their proper station on the opera-stage, and how many useless M.P.s would have made excellent men-cooks. I have seen gentlewomen, who proved by their delight in unnecessarily performing half the work of the house, that nature had designed them for housemaids; and young ladies who, with time and money at command, endeavoured, by voluntarily slaving from morning till night at worked flounces and lace-veils, to accomplish their real destiny, and be sempstresses in spite of fate. In the lower orders of life these things are doubtless the same: men with a genius for dressing hair are sometimes compelled to drive stage-coaches, the latent capabilities of a man-mercer are concealed under a coal- heaver's hat; and they who might have rivalled Hoby and Thomas in the profession of Crispin, are perhaps at this moment wasting their energies upon baking bad bread, or making razors that will not cut. Happy he whose tailor is a genius; thrice happy she who buys her silks and gauzes of an inspired shopman. Go to Flint's with your wife or sister, and, instead of scolding her for delay, abusing shops and shopping, fashions, and flounces, dress and dressers, tapping your stick incessantly on the ground, looking at your watch every three minutes, and interrupting by your impatience and complaints a pending decision between a gros de Naples and a Zephyreene, amuse yourself by watching the countenance and manner of the numerous shopmen and shopwomen, and endeavour to discover which among them were intended by nature to serve customers at Grafton-House. Civil and patient as the generality may be, a look of abstraction, an air of languor may be observed in their eyes and demeanour, proving that their whole soul is not engrossed by their occupation, and that necessity, not taste, has placed them at the counter. How different he who is acting in his proper sphere, and whose genius delights to expatiate amidst the multitudinous contents of Flint's shelves and warehouses. He is evidently enjoying the labour which others |