stitious coincidence of fatal names, on which also the Turks have great reliance. The English translation is very Christian in its style. On the first of the Indict, the kingdom of Ishmael, he 'who is called Mahomet shall overturn the race of the Palæologi, 'shall gain possession of the seven-hilled (city). He shall reign 'within it, shall subdue very many nations, and shall desolate 'the islands as far as the Euxine sea. He shall lay waste those 'who border the Danube. On the eighth of the Indict, he shall 'subdue the Peloponnesus. On the ninth of the Indict, he shall 'lead his forces against the countries of the north. On the ' tenth of the Indict, he shall overthrow the Dalmatæ. Again, he shall turn back for yet a time; he stirs up a mighty war against the Dalmatians, and is a little broken (or crushed), and 'the people, and tribes, with the assistance of the Western nations, shall engage in war by sea and land, and shall overthrow Ishmael. His descendants shall reign with less, little, very little (power). But the yellow-haired race, together with all 'their coadjutors, shall overthrow Ishmael, and shall take the 'seven-hilled (city), with its (imperial) privileges. Then shall " they kindle a fierce intestine war, until the fifth hour, and 'thrice shall a voice shout, stand! stand! and fear (to pro'ceed) make anxious haste; and on your right hand you will find a man, noble, admirable, and courageous: him ye shall have for your lord, for he is my friend, and, in accepting him, 'my will is fulfilled.' This prophecy is evidently the same which is mentioned by Mr Eton, in his Survey of the Turkish Empire, as foretelling that the Russians, under the title of the Sons of Yellowness, will take Constantinople. Notwithstanding the oriental tinge of the expression, Mr Thornton, (whose animosity towards his predecessor, whether right or wrong, is one of the great disfigurements of his own work, the Present State of Turkey), refers to this prophecy in his index as a traveller's fabrication. Its antiquity, however, stands upon unquestionable grounds. The following passage is cited by Mr Forster in his final notes. Wallachius, in Vitâ Mahometis (p. 158) refert, Turcas hodiernos in annalibus suis legere, tamdiu perstiturum regnum Mu'hammedicum, donec veniant figliuoli biondi; i.e. flavi et albi 'filii, vel filii ex Septentrione, flavis et albis capillis, secundum aliorum interpretationem; utri autem Sueci hic intelligendi, 'ceu volunt nonnulli, aliis discutiendum relinquo.' Schultens, 'Eccles. Muhamm, Brev. Delin. p. 22. Argent. 1668.'

Rolamb, who was Swedish envoy at Constantinople in 1657, relates that the Turks had then a particular suspicion against 'the Swedish nation, it being written in their prophecies that 'their empire shall be destroyed by a northern nation.' The

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mode by which this prophecy was expected to be fulfilled is droll enough, in reference to present probabilities. The Turks were to take Rome; the Pope to be soon after made patriarch of Jerusalem, and turn Mahomedan; then Christ was to come down, and confirm the Koran; after which, the Turks were to decline and retire into Arabia, and the world was to end. A very pleasant application of this theory is to be found in the remarkable Letters addressed, during the miraculous campaign of 1683, by that admirable example of Christian chivalry, John Sobieski, to a wife apparently very unworthy of such a correspondent. The Pashas, our prisoners, whilst talking with the Starost of Culm, asked him- Well, what are you going to "do next? We expected you would return home after the victory "of Vienna.' The Starost answered, We mean to continue "the war till we have recovered all the country which you had "conquered from the Christians.' We are well aware, they replied, that it is God who has raised up your king to punish 6 us. But this conduct does not at all correspond with what is written in our Holy Books. It is we who ought first to conquer all Christendom. Your turn will come afterwards. Why are you in such a hurry? Are you impatient for the last day? for it is said in our Books, that the moment the Christians 'get the better, and the Turks are conquered, the end of the world will come. Well, would you wish it to come so soon? The Starost, laughing, told them that we were in no fear of the day of judgment, and should not stop pursuing them.' Pietro della Valle travelled in the east from 1615 to 1626. In one of his Letters he states, that the motive which led him into Persia to the court of Shah Abbas, was a desire to form a league between the Persians and Cossacks (not the Muscovites, of whom and their embassy he speaks with comparative contempt) against the Turk. Mentioning the various exploits of that tribe on the Black Sea, he says that they were animated in this undertaking by prophecies current among them, wherein they were pointed out as the people fated to destroy the Turkish Empire, and restore that of the Greeks.

The Present State of the Greek Church, by Rycaut, was written in 1678; consequently, previous to the reforms introduced by Peter the Great into the Russian Church Establishment. His words are, (p. 83.) Though the Muscovites and Russians have their own Patriarch of late years, yet they acknowledge ' a particular respect and reverence to the See of Constantinople, 'to which they have recourse for counsel and direction, in all 'difficult points controverted in religion; and the Greeks on the other side have an esteem and affection for the Muscovites, as

for those whom Ancient Prophecies mention to be designed by • God, for their avengers and deliverers in after ages.'

There can be no question of the policy of the Russians in now seeking to appropriate to themselves the excitement of a prediction so long wavering among rival neighbours whom it has since outgrown or swallowed up. In 1769, a pamphlet was published at Petersburg, entitled, The Fall of the Turkish Empire, predicted by the Arab astrologer, Mousta Eddin.' The Sultan Soliman (it is not said which) threw the unlucky author into the sea. A collection of curious predictions concerning the same event, was published at Moscow, we suppose as a sort of Piece justificative, in 1828. It contains another by one Mustin Zadeck.

It is needless to observe, of prophecies of this description, that the original 'presumption was probably in their favour at the time of their composition, and that they directly tend to their own accomplishment. When once set agoing, they roll on like descending avalanches, and gather fresh force at every bound, till the victim is crushed beneath their weight. The chief Turkish burying ground for Constantinople is at Scutari, on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus; partly, because, their holy places being in Asia, it is comparatively holy ground; but principally, because the dying wish to provide for their remains a resting place beyond the limits of these predictions. The effect of such a notion upon this nation of predestinarians must be very great. Dr Russel, in his excellent account of Aleppo, published about the middle of last century, states that the Turks often mention this prophecy, and appear seriously to believe it. Captain Kinneir met with it under the walls of Iconium in 1813. Whilst he was examining the reliefs, an unwieldy Turk, with a protuberant belly and erect carriage,' slowly advanced towards him with his pipe and servant, to learn why he was looking so earnestly at the figures. This dignified personage in return informed him, that his family were once powerful in Iconium, but that of late years the 'greatness of the Osmanlis had declined also, and he feared that a prophecy, which foretold the destruction of their power, would soon be realized.'

It is a singular proof of the overflowing superstition natural to the Turks, that having stepped into the estate of the Greek Emperors, they should, as a matter of course, have taken up this their fabulous and legendary fortune, as an inevitable mortgage, bound by destiny, on the imperial succession.

The earliest of these prophecies is, evidently, not so much a vague anticipation of the conquests of the North over the

South, (a geographical probability, of which the world has had sufficient experience,) as a terrible tradition of the narrow, and, as was even then considered, providential escape of Constantinople, from the indefatigable assaults of these same barbarian invaders. The wonder is, that the Russians should have ripened so slowly on their northern wall. Between the years 865 and 1043, the Russian canoes descended on four several expeditions down the Boristhenes into the Bosphorus. Their leader, Swatislas, crossed the Balkan, and preceded General Diebitsch in the occupation of Adrianople, as far back as the year 973. It is singular, therefore, that out of the ten sieges which Constantinople has already sustained, the two only successful ones should have been the work of other armies, and that the final triumph of the Muscovite over the capital of Constantine has yet to come. It would not be respited a day later, were any form of Christian worship, Greek or Roman, to displace the Imaum from before the altar of St Sophia. Poland and Warsaw were not Mahomedan. Consequently, whenever the Russian cross shall enter through the breach made by Mahomet the second, nearly five hundred years ago, we suspect that the ancient prophecy of Taurus will be more closely connected with the real cause of this great historical revolution, than modern prophecies, steaming from the vaticinatory tripod of Dr Miller, Mr Forster, or a yet wilder school.

ART.II.-1. The Speech of M. T. SADLER, Esq. M.P., on the State and Prospects of the Country, delivered at Whitby. 8vo. London, 1829.

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2. Storia della Economia Pubblica in Italia, de GIUSEPPE PECCHIO. 8vo. Lugano, 1829.

I

T is with fear and trembling that we announce to our readers the alarming position in which they are placed. We doubt whether our philosophical countrymen north of the Tweed, ' are aware of their past and present perils. We learn, upon 'the unquestionable authority of many most venerable friends of the Constitution in Church and State, that a dangerous con'spiracy has been formed, more fatal than have been the schemes of the Carbonari to the Holy Alliance, or the devices of Cap'tain Rock to the worshipful company of Irish Tithe-Proctors. Men of all classes have lent their aid to the vile purposes of this guilty confederacy. They have obtained admission inte

the Magistracy, the Legislature, and the Cabinet. Even the Church and the Seats of Learning have not been exempt from 'their mischievous influence. These dangerous and designing 'men call themselves the Society of Political Economists. Having contributed to destroy the Constitution of 1688, by introducing a free trade in religion, they are now intent on 'breaking down those bulwarks which the wisdom of our an'cestors erected for the protection of our agriculture, manufac"tures, navigation, and commerce. As might be anticipated, the factious Opposition have lent themselves to these designs; but what is still more fatal, the infection has extended to • Whitehall, and Downing Street. Mr Huskisson and Mr Grant " were not more formidable than are the Duke of Wellington ' and his colleagues, and the inscriptions which Mr Vesey Fitz'gerald has traced on Mr Courtenay's white paper' at the • Board of Trade, deprive that department of any claims on the confidence of the orthodox country gentlemen. The au❝thor of a pamphlet on Currency is made a Bishop. An exposi'tor of the Apocalypse recommends cheap corn. A Professor dis'seminates these atrocious doctrines at Oxford. Wise men from the East,-modern peripatetics,-deliver their lectures with pertinacious activity. The London University, the Society for diffusing Useful Knowledge, Mechanics' Institutes, Encyclo'pædias, Treatises, Essays, Pamphlets, and Reviews, all labour • in the same cause. Death has rescued England from the hands ' of one political Jacobin, but she may yet fall a victim to com❝mercial Jacobinism, unless saved by the Speeches of Mr Sad'ler, and the Letters of the Duke of Newcastle.'

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We have endeavoured to give a faithful representation of the present opinions of the Ultra Tories, though in language more moderate than theirs. The Political Economists,' the new philosophers repeat, have filled England with insolvency, starva'tion, crime, convulsion, and in a word, with all the elements ' of national barbarism, bankruptcy, and revolution.' Any reduction of duty on foreign goods is called robbery and spoliation;' a vested interest is discovered to exist in every anomaly and abuse; and the whole vocabulary of the canina facundia' is put in requisition, to vilify and traduce many of our most eminent writers and statesmen.

The substitution of a party badge, for a convincing argument, has long been practised. No Jew bill, Chartered Rights for ever, Church and State, No Popery, and No Free Trade, are, in modern times, what were the cries of St George and St Dennis in the days of chivalry. If we could conceive that the literary and political opponents of, what has been called, Free Trade, were ear