rebels against the laws of Tibet, have seen and been united to each other; and the embrace which was permitted was doomed to be the last. Now, therefore," added he, addressing the mute, "perform your office on Ackbar first." They accordingly bound their victim, who was already gagged, to one of the altars, and were about to fix the silken string upon his neck, when they on a sudden desisted, and prostrating themselves before Ackbar, performed the obeisance which is paid only to the heir of the sacred throne of Lassa. A general consternation seized all present, and the Supreme Lama, descending from his throne, approached the victim, on whose left shoulder (which had been uncovered by the executioner), he now perceived the mystic characters by which the sacred family of Tibet are always distinguished at their birth. When he beheld the well-known mark, the voice of nature confirmed the testimony of his eye-sight, and falling on the neck of Ackbar, he exclaimed-" It is my son, my long lost son! let him speak: henceforth this place shall no longer be called the Hall of Silence,' but the Hall of Joy,' for in this room will we celebrate to-morrow the nuptials of Ackbar and Zerinda!"

The history then goes on to explain this singular event by relating that some Jesuit Missionaries who had gained access to the capital of Tibet, in their zeal for their religion, had found means to steal the young heir to the throne, then an infant, hoping to make use of him in the conversion of his father's people; but in their retreat through the great desert of Cobi, they had been attacked by a banditti, who slaughtered them all, and sold the young Lama for a slave. He had served in the Ottoman army, he had been taken by the Knights of Malta, afterwards became servant to a French officer, with whom he travelled through Europe; he finally

accompanied him to India; there, in an engagement with the Mahrattas, he had been again taken prisoner, and sold as a slave to some merchants of Tibet; by this means he came into the service of the Lama Zarin, without knowing anything of his origin, or the meaning of the characters he bore on his left shoulder, and which had been the cause of effecting this wonderful discovery.

The history concludes with an account of the nuptials of Ackbar and Zerinda. Their happiness was unexampled; for the lessons which the young Lama had learned in the school of adversity, and the observations he had made in the various countries through which he had travelled, prepared him to abolish many of the cruel and impious customs which had till then disgraced the legislature of Tibet.

Tibet forms a mountain ridge of a very peculiar character, and presents a region in every way distinct from the neighbouring territories of Persia or Hindoostan. The whole country is one series of rude plains, covered with scanty herbage, diversified by rocky heights, under whose shelter a few rough built villages find protection from the chilling winds of the snow-clad mountains that enclose it.

Society in Tibet is at a very low ebb: religion forms the essential basis of the constitution, both civil and social: the system which here holds sway is that known in Asia under the title of Boodhism, the human being its sovereign head. The objects of worship are mortals exalted into deities, instead of a spiritual and eternal Author of the universe. As soon as the Lama dies, the priests, by supposed celestial indications, discover an infant with whom his soul is supposed to have transmigrated. This person is immediately exalted into the character of Lama, and in his

name all the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the state are administered. Each district has its Lama, but there is a chief called the Grand Lama, who resides at Lassa. At Lassa is the temple of Pootata, which is said to be 367 feet high; it contains ten thousand apartments filled with images in gold and silver, and has its roof richly gilded. In the surrounding plains are twenty-two other temples, all richly adorned; and we are assured that the entire number of priests and monks maintained at the expense of the country is little short of ten thousand. Missionaries inform us that many of their religious ceremonies have a striking resemblance to those of the Church of Rome.

VI.

Almet; or, Hope and Fear.

ALUE of LIFE, as fixed by Hope and Fear, and, therefore, dependent on the Will, is the doctrine the author of the narrative that follow, desires to enforce.

The story is by Dr. Hawkesworth, and forms No. 114 of The Adventurer. The divine precept it enforces, is one that Christ and his Apostles taught. St. Paul admonishes us thus— "Set your affections on things above, not on things on earth." In the same proportion that the love of the world increases in our hearts, so does our love of God diminish. The final happiness or misery of man being placed at a distance from our present state, we are apt to think they are further off than they really are. Under this false impression, we frame a thousand excuses, and, inconsiderately and fatally for ourselves, set our affections on earthly things, and fix our tabernacle here. It is a most certain and evident truth, that if any person firmly believed a future state of happiness, and could entertain an humble and modest hope that he should have some share in it, he would more easily rest satisfied with his condition for the few days of his pilgrimage here below. The expectation of undisturbed peace and rest from all troubles, the hope of living for ever with God and angelic beings, and of making continual progress in wisdom and knowledge, in virtue and every amiable disposition, would compose the mind, and raise it above care and disquiet. Temporal inconveniences would then seem little, and the common objects of men's hopes and fears would appear but as shadows.