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ly at the animal, he began to whisper and to laugh with those near him then addressing himself to me, said, Why has not your master sent the horse, Kârrâ-Goz, as I desired?' That horse has defects,' I replied, or he would have been sent,'-With all his defects,' said Beggee Jân, smiling, he is twenty times better than the one you have brought.'

"While we were conversing, a great number of nobles came in; and I could not help observing the extraordinary richness and splendour of their arms and dresses. Beggee Jân returned the salute of every one of these in a kind and affable manner, and bade them be seated: but the shade of his small tent did not protect one half of them from the rays of the sun. Soon after their arrival, their chief fell into a deep reverie; and, till evening prayers were announced, he ap. peared wholly absorbed in religious contemplation. At the time of prayer all arose, and retired. I slept that night at the tent of Ishân Nukeeb. At day-light the army marched, and passed within a few miles of the fort of Chinnaran. After Beggee Jân had reached his encampment, he sent for me, and honoured me with a private audience, at which he was very affable. Your master, Mameish Khan, is, I hear, always drinking wine. I have not seen him drink,' I replied, and cannot speak to that point.' You are right,' said he, 'not to state what you have not seen. Tell Mameish Khan,' he continued, I have a regard for

:

him but as to Nâdir Meerza, (the ruler of Mushed), he is a fool. Bid Mameish Khan,' he added, write to Jaaffer Khan, of Nishapore, and advise that chief to solicit my friendship, if he wishes to save his country from destruction.' After this observation a handsome dress was brought for me, with a present in money. Every article of the dress was good, except the turban, which was of little or no value. This, however, Beggee Jân took himself, giving me his own in exchange, which was a great deal worse than the one brought for me. I took my leave, and returned to the tent of Ishân Nukeeb, to whom I repeated all that had passed. He laughed very heartily at the account, made me a handsome present; and I was on the point of retiring, when two men came, at full gallop, with a letter from Mameish Khan, stating, that, notwithstanding the protection he had received, some of his followers had been taken by the Usbegs. Ishân Nukeeb took me again to Beggee Jân, whom we found seated in his smalltent, upon a goat's skin. He directed the captives to be brought, and made them over to me. He had before written a letter to Mameish Khan, which he re-opened, wrote what he had done, and again committed it to my charge. As this affair was settling, his cook, a diminutive person, with weak eyes, came into the tent. Why do not you think of dinner?' said Beggee Jân, 'it will soon be time for prayer.' The little cook immediately brought a large pot, and making

a fire-place with stones, put four or five kinds of grain, and a little dried meat, into it. He then nearly filled it with water; and, having kindled a fire, left it to boil, while he prepared the dishes: these were wooden platters, of the same kind as are used by the lowest orders. He put down three, and poured out the mess, Beggee Jân watched him; and the cook evidently understood, from his looks, when more or less was to be put into a dish. After all was ready, he spread a dirty cloth, and laid down a piece of stale barley bread, which Beggee Jân put into a cup of water to moisten. The first dish was given to the ruler of the Usbegs, the second was placed between Ishân Nukeeb and me, and the cook took the third for himself, sitting down to eat it opposite to his master. As I had dined, I merely tasted what was put before me. It was very nauseous, the meat in it being almost putrid: yet several nobles, who came in, eat the whole of our unfinished share, and with an apparent relish, that could only have been derived from the pleasure they had in partaking of the same fare with their holy leader.

After dinner I obtained leave to depart. On my return to Chinnaran, Mameish Khan was pleased with the result of my mission: but he afterwards informed me, that, notwithstanding the fair promises of Beggee Jân, eightytwo of his people were, during this season, carried away by the Usbegs."

Extracted from a Spanish Sermon delivered at a Grand Function celebrated at Cadiz, by Don Blaz de Ostoloza, Chaplain Major and Confessor to his Majesty.

The confessor begins by giving a picture of the life of the king at Valency:

"The king," says he, "rose at eight o'clock, heard mass, breakfasted, made afterwards a party at billiards, entered his closet to read his letters or some portion of holy writ, embroidered at the tambour till two o'clock, at which time he took a short airing in a carriage-he dined on his return-made a short prayer, received his brothers, or those who were admitted to pay their court to him, supped, and before going to bed recited with all his household the Litanies, which he toned himself.

"An agent of Napoleon, whose impious presence he was forced to endure, employed all means of seduction to draw the Infant from his holy occupations. He brought a troop of female dancers from Paris, and even his own wife, to endeavour to charm the king; but I perceived by certain signs (adds the confessor, whose words we translate literally,) that the breasts of these women, indecently exposed, were beginning to have a dangerous effect on the prince, who was ready to fall into the seventh deadly sin. I admonished him in time, and, like the slave of Potiphar, Don Ferdinand escaped these new sirens.

"The king was above all things incensed at the poverty of the chief altar of the parish of Valency; and at there being in the Chateau, a play-house, while there was neither a chapel nor an oratory-while the people were luxurious in their furniture and feasts, and miserable in the decoration of their temples. The king embroidered, himself, a beautiful robe of white silk, with gold pallets and gold fringe, for the Virgin. He had raised a superb altar, gilt, and he sometimes served, himself, the mass at the feet of the Queen of the angels. The Queen of the angels was most sensible of these royal attentions, and manifested to him her content by many signs. It happened in particular, that one night an ecclesiastic of the district being overcome with sleep in the church, the Virgin appear ed to him as coming out of the

altar, she advanced towards the ecclesiastic, made several turns round him, to display the elegance of her toilette, and said to him, sighing, that her son received the vows of the king in recompence of the fine robe that he had given her; that the Spanish princes would not remain long without being delivered; and that they must form an Order of the Holy Sacrament, with which all the knights should be armed for his defence.

"The priest, much touched by this speech, awakened, and came to me to reveal the miraculous vision; but I answered by assuring him that the Holy Virgin had already said as much to the king himself-who in thanking her had promised, that on his return to Spain he would make her worship flourish over all the provinces subjected to his dominion."

THE WAHABEES.

any superintendence over the affairs of men, or render them any

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Persia.)

HIS sect was founded near a century ago, by an Arab of the name of Shaikh Mahomed, the son of Abdool Wâlâb, whose name they have taken. Shaikh Mahomed connected himself in the attempt to reform the religion of his country with Ebn-Saoud, the Prince of Dereah, the capital of the Province of Nujuddee. Through the efforts of the saint, and the aid of the temporal power of Ebn-Saoud, and his son and successor Abdool Azeez, the religion of the Wâhâbees is now established all over the peninsula of Arabia. The tenets of this sect are peculiar, and merit notice. They profess that there is one God, and Mahomed is his prophet: but as the Supreme Being neither has nor can have any participator in his power, they say, that to profess that either Mahomed, the Imaums, or any saints, can have

deem Mahomedans who deviate in any way from the plain, literal meaning of the Koran, infidels . and maintain, that to make war upon all such is the imperious duty of every Wâhâbee. It is one of their tenets, that all titles meant to shew respect and honour to men are odious to God, who alone is worthy of high name; and they assert, that in conformity to what is revealed in the Koran, true Mahomedans should wage continual war against unbelievers, till they are converted, or agree to pay the tribute imposed on infidels; and that in the latter case they should be compelled to wear the coarsest garments, not to be allowed to ride on horses, nor to live in splendid dwellings. They maintain that the taxes (including zukaat and khums) levied by Mahomed are alone lawful; that swearing by Mahomed or Aly, or any other person, should be prohibited, since an oath is

calling a witness to our secret thoughts, which no one can know but God. They deem it a spe cies of idolatry to erect magnificent tombs; but to kiss relics, &c. is idolatry itself; and therefore they affirm, that it is an action acceptable to God to destroy the tombs of Mahomedan saints in Arabia and Persia, and to appropriate their rich ornaments to worldly purposes, for which they were designed. They say, that it is wicked to mourn for the dead, for if they were good Mahome. dans their souls are in Paradise, at which their friends should rejoice. The Wâhâbees reject the whole of the traditions, limiting their belief to the Koran, which was, they say, sent from heaven to Mahomed, who was an excellent man, and much beloved of God. They continue to preserve the usages of circumcision, ablution, &c. which they found established, but consider them more as matters of practice and usage than of faith. The leading principle of this sect is their right to destroy and plunder all who differ from them: and those Mahomedans who do not adopt their creed are represented as far less entitled to mercy than either Jews or Christians. Their progress was so great about ten years ago, as to excite considerable alarm in the Turkish government. Among other places, they plundered the rich tombs of Aly and his sons at Nujuff and Kerbelah. Their inroads are always dreadful, for they spare none who do not conform to their opinions: but they have lately met with some severe checks, and appear to be declining.

THE SECT OF SOOFFEES.

(From the Same.)

In a chapter upon the religion of Persia it is impossible to pass over the Sooffees. That extraordinary class of devotees have been before noticed; but they claim a fuller description. We discover from the evidence of Mahomedan authors, that these enthusiasts were co-existent with their religion. Their rapturous zeal, perhaps, aided in no slight degree its first establishment; but they have since been considered among the most dangerous of its enemies. There can be no doubt that their free opinions regarding its dogmas, their contempt of its forms, and their claim to a distinct communion with the Deity, are all calculated to subvert that belief for which they outwardly profess their respect; and their progress has, conse. quently, been deemed as synonymous with that of infidelity. There is no country over which the tenets of the Sooffees have, at different periods, been more widely diffused than Persia. The great reputation acquired by one of their priests, enabled his descendants to occupy the throne of that kingdom for more than two centuries: but the narchs of the Suffavean dynasty were too sensible of the aid which their power derived from the continuance of an established and understood religion, to indulge in the rapt and visionary dreams of their pious ancestors. Their country, however, continued to abound with persons who believed in the tenets which these had taught;

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