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course consists of a variety of dishes, such as mutton in small bits roasted on iron skewers, with slices of either apples or artichoke-bottoms and onions between each piece; or mutton minced small and beat up with spiceries into balls, and roasted also on skewers; mutton or lamb stewed with gourds, roots, and herbs; fowls, and pigeons, and sometimes quails and other small birds, boiled or roasted, but more frequently made into ragouts. Farce-meat, which is called mahshee, composed of mutton, rice, pistachios, currants, pine-nuts, almonds, suet, spice, and garlic, is served up in a variety of shapes, and takes an additional name from the respective fruit, which is farced or stuffed, as mahshee of mad-apple, cucumber, or gourd. It is also enveloped in the leaves of vine, endive, beet, or borage, and is then called Yaprak. A lamb, thus farced and roasted entire, is a dish not uncommon at feasts. Burgle, which is wheat prepared in a certain manner, is an article of universal use in the Eastern cookery. It is sometimes, like rice, made into a pilaw, but more commonly, being beat up with minced meat, suet, and spiceries, is formed into a large ball, and either boiled or fried. They have also several sorts of pies, and a great variety of sweet dishes and pastry. The Turks seldom eat fish ; and sea-fish is rarely brought to town except for the Europeans. Neither are they fond of geese or ducks; and wild fowl, as well as other kinds of game, though very plentiful, are seldom seen at their tables. A few plates of sweet flummery are served by way of dessert, for they seldom serve fruit at that time; and, last of all, appears a large bowl of khushaf, which is a decoction of dried figs, currants, apricots, cherries, apples, or other fruits made into thin sirup, with pistachio-nuts, almonds, or some slices of the fruit, left swimming in the liquor. This is served cold, sometimes iced; and with a few spoonfuls of it the repast concludes.-They drink nothing but water at meals, and very often do not drink till an hour after dinner. They do not drink healths; but, when one drinks either water or sherbet, the person next him, or the master of the house, if he observes it, laying his right hand on his heart (the ordinary mode

of salutation), wishes it may do him good. This compliment is paid immediately after the person has drank, and is returned by touching the right temple slightly, and saying, "May God prolong your life," or some such expression of good wishes. They sit only a short while at table, and, when a person does not choose either to eat more, or to wait the khushaf, he may rise without breach of good manners. But the host often invites to taste particular dishes, and the removes are at any rate so quick, that the guests, by necessity, as well as complaisance, are induced to eat of a greater variety than they probably would do from choice. After getting up from table, every one has water and soap brought him for washing the mouth and hands; after which pipes and coffee are served round.-The description given above will be understood of the tables of the grandees; those of the inferior ranks are served much more frugally; among people of middling condition, who have seldom more than three or four dishes, the whole is set down at once on the table, and, when the masters have finished, the servants in waiting, after bringing the coffee and pipes, sit down to the victuals that are left. The number of dishes decreases of course in the inferior ranks of life; but, except among people of the lowest class, who live almost wholly on vegetables, the quality of the dishes is nearly the same; that is, they are highly seasoned, greasy, and generally made very acid with the juice of lemons, pomegranates, or unripe grapes.-Between one and two in the afternoon, the great men retire into their private apartments, and are not visible again till between three and four. They sup in the winter about five o'clock, and in the summer at six, making little difference in the service between that meal and dinner. They frequently have company at supper, or make familiar visits after it, but seldom sit later than ten o'clock: this is meant of people of rank, for others sup at home, and are rarely seen in the street after evening prayer. At these nocturnal assemblies they smoke incessantly, drink coffee two or three times, and, in the winter, are regaled with sweet pastry. Several circumstances render these assemblies more entertaining than those of the forenoon: they are

not so often intruded upon by business, the company is more select, the sherbet and perfume are omitted, and the air of the whole is less formal. Russell.

THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

ALL ancient writers agree in representing the first inhabitants of Britain as a tribe of the Gauls or Celtæ, who peopled that island from the neighbouring continent. Their language was the same, their manners, their government, their superstition: varied only by those small differences, which time, or a communication with the bordering nations, must necessarily introduce. The inhabitants of Gaul, especially in those parts which lie contiguous to Italy, had acquired from a commerce with their southern neighbours, some refinement in the arts, which gradually diffused themselves northwards, and spread but a very faint light over this island. The Greek and Roman navigators, or merchants (for there were scarcely any other travellers in those ages), brought back the most shocking accounts of the ferocity of the people, which they magnified, as usual, in order to excite the admiration of their countrymen. The southeast parts, however, of Britain, had already, before the age of Cæsar, made the first and most requisite step towards a civil settlement; and the Britons, by tillage and agriculture, had there increased to a great multitude. The other inhabitants of the island still maintained themselves by pasture; they were clothed with skins of beasts; they dwelt in huts, which they reared in the forests and marshes, with which the country was covered; they shifted easily their habitations, when actuated either by hopes of plunder, or the fear of an enemy: the conveniency of feeding their cattle was even a sufficient motive for removing their seats; and as they were ignorant of all the refinements of life, their wants and their possessions were equally scanty and limited. The Britons were divided into many small nations or tribes. Their governments, though monarchical, were free, as well as those of all the Celtic nations. Each state was divided into factions within itself; it

was agitated with jealousy or animosity against the neighbouring states; and, while the arts of peace were yet unknown, wars were the chief occupation, and formed the chief object of ambition among the people. -The religion of the Britons was one of the most considerable parts of their government; and the Druids, who were their priests, possessed great authority among them. Besides ministering at the altar, and directing all religious duties, they presided over the education of youth; they enjoyed an immunity from wars and taxes; they possessed both the civil and criminal jurisdiction; they decided all controversies among states, as well as among private persons, and whoever refused to submit to their decrees was exposed to the most severe penalties. The sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him; he was forbidden access to the sacrifices or public worship: he was debarred all intercourse with his fellow-citizens, even in the common affairs of life; his company was universally shunned, as profane and dangerous: he was refused the protection of law; and death itself became an acceptable relief from the misery and the infamy, to which he was exposed. Thus the bands of government, which were naturally loose among that rude and turbulent people, were happily corroborated by the terrors of their superstition.-No species of superstition was ever more terrible, than that of the Druids. Besides the severe penalties, which it was in the power of the ecclesiastics to inflict in this world, they inculcated the eternal transmigration of souls; and thereby extended their authority as far as the fears of their timorous votaries. They practised their rites in dark groves, or other secret recesses; and, in order to throw a greater mystery over their religion, they communicated their doctrines only to the initiated, and strictly forbade the committing of them to writing; lest they should, at any time, be exposed to the examination of the profane vulgar. Human sacrifices were practised among them; the spoils of war were often devoted to their divinities; and they punished, with the severest tortures, whoever dared to secrete any part of the consecrated offering. These treasures they kept in woods and forests, secured by no other guard than the

terrors of their religion; and this steady conquest over human avidity may be regarded as more signal, than their prompting men to the most extraordinary and most violent efforts. No idolatrous worship ever attained such an ascendant over mankind, as that of the ancient Gauls and Britons; and the Romans, after their conquest, finding it impossible to reconcile those nations to the laws and institutions of their masters, while it maintained its authority, were at last obliged to abolish it by penal statutes; a violence, which had never, in any other instance, been practised by those tolerating conquerors. Hume.

ALFRED'S INSTITUTIONS.

AFTER Alfred had subdued, and had settled or expelled the Danes, he found the kingdom in the most wretched condition; desolated by the ravages of those barbarians, and thrown into disorders, which were calculated to perpetuate its misery. Though the great armies of the Danes were broken, the country was full of straggling troops of that nation, who, being accustomed to live by plunder, were become incapable of industry; and who, from the natural ferocity of their manners, indulged themselves in committing violence, even beyond what was requisite to supply their necessities. The English themselves, reduced to the most extreme indigence by these continued depredations, had shaken off all bands of government: and those, who had been plundered to-day, betook themselves next day to the like disorderly life, and, from despair, joined the robbers in pillaging and ruining their fellow-citizens. These were the evils, for which it was necessary, that the vigilance and activity of Alfred should provide a remedy. That he might render the execution of justice strict and regular, he divided all England into counties; these counties he subdivided into hundreds ; and the hundreds into tithings. Every householder was answerable for the behaviour of his family and slaves, and even of his guests, if they lived above three days in his house. Ten neighbouring householders were

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