foregoing statement of facts, that all classes in taken will cause yet greater, till Russia, humRussia must ardently desire peace, as the only bled and conquered, is brought to sue for means of preserving them from ruin, to which peace at the feet of the British lion and the the serf-owners are more exposed than any Gallic eagle. The time is gone by to hope for other class, from the continual drain upon any co-operation in the interior of the countheir resources, already much diminished by try. As I said before, the people are disheartdebts. They are an improvident race. Many ened by the length of time they have had to of the lower orders hoped for a great improve- wait, and are excited by the reports spread so ment in their position from the success of the assiduously of the barbarity of the English to allied armies; but they are disheartened by their prisoners, and the taking of the monasthe length of time they are obliged to wait. tery of Solovetzki. The Russian government They cannot define what they expect; but that is never slow to improve its advantages; this they hoped for great advantages, I have no has been proved in the manner the fortificadoubt, from several conversations I have had tions of Sebastopol have been thrown up, and with intelligent men in the peasant class-it has improved the breathing-time given by men who can neither read or write, but who, the long duration of this too celebrated siege. by the force of their natural shrewdness, can There is now telegraphic communication from understand that a change must and will come. Odessa to the capital, through Kief, so that They looked upon the French and English as the news from the seat of war arrives in two the heralds of this change. Had the war been days. When the news of the descent first pushed with sufficient vigor from the begin- reached us, everybody was filled with consterning, there is no doubt but that the power of nation, and said we have now lost our Italy, Russia would have been humbled effectually as they call the Crimea; but when it became by defeats on the frontiers and internal dis- known that, after the battle of Alma, Sebassensions; for all the south would have risen topol did not fall, and that it withstood suchad the Allies taken possession of the Crimea cessfully the bombardment of the 17th of Ocwhen they fiast landed, which might easily tober, hope again revived, and, by a reaction have been done, at least this is the opinion of popular feeling, everybody expected to see of all the Russian officers whom I met, and the invaders driven out of the country, which who were there at the time. But this is no the brilliant victory(?) of Liprandi seemed to place for the discussion of the merits of mili- prognosticate. What is more feared by the tary plans. There have been grave faults, of Government, though less spoken of, than the which the price is now being paid in the blood war itself, is its results upon the population, as of our brave countrymen on the heights of Se- ideas of liberty and civilization may be introbastopol. Nothing remains but to push the duced with conic balls, and at the point of the war with all the vigor that the Allies, with bayonet, that will destroy the whole fabric of their mighty resources, are able to do, and to despotism erected by the Czar and his suballet no 66 penny wise and pound foolish" pol- terns, and that its fall must crush, and bury icy interfere with what they have in hand. beneath its ruins, all those who helped to Even what has been done has caused great erect or support this monster of injustice. So suffering to our enemies, and what is under- be it!

LINES ON THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEY.Many years since, some lines (in the manner of Campbell's "Wounded Hussar") appeared in the Naval and Military Gazette, on the late gallant Marquis of Anglesey; whether original or extracted from some work of the period I do not know, but they were remarkably graceful and appropriate. They commenced thus:

"Erect in the pride of his chivalrous fame,

"How gallantly still 'neath his silvery brow

Shines the spirit within of the dauntless hussar; Whose soul at Majorga no numbers could bow,

As he led on the squadrons of Britain afar!"

The verses were much admired at the time of their publication, and I am sure their reprint, if a copy of them could be found, would gratify many persons, especially at present, when the recent setting of "Corunna's twin-star with Moore," as Lord Anglesey was styled, is a subbut I remember, in addition, only the second ject of such general regret.-Notes and Queries.

Still he moves in his glory, our Wounded
Hussar."

From The Spectator. ALLEN'S DEAD SEA AND GLEANINGS IN THE EAST.*

| hundreds of feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and bordered by lofty hills. In this depression are found Lake Tiberias, the river Jordan, and the Dead Sea. In Captain A MAIN object of Captain Allen's work is Allen's opinion, this valley, during the geolog to advance a gigantic project of his own. The ical æra, was continued to the Gulf of Akaba, work itself contains an account of his jour- and formed a great inland ocean. By a rise neyings through the Greek Islands and Syria, of the land at the Southern end of this great a scientific investigation of the phenomena of earth-fissure the communication with the Red the Dead Sea, and various plans for the im- Sea was cut off; the heat of the climate dried provement of Syria in particular and the up the water of the inland ocean by evapora world in general by the creation of an im- tion, till it was reduced to what the natural mense ship-canal, or rather ocean, which shall drainage of the country would supply; if, inestablish a new route to India by way of the deed, the Dead Sea is not even now decreas valley of the Jordan, the basin of the Dead ing, spite of the rivers that drain into it. The Sea, and the Red Sea itself. depression of this valley or basin is so great The Captain's travels seem to have been that the surface of the Dead Sea is estimated made at different times and without any defi- to be 1300 feet below the level of the Medinite purpose, except at Jerusalem and some terranean. The modus operandi is therefore of the ancient ports on the Mediterranean. simple. Cut one ship-canal from the head of Striking views of scenery, pleasant sketches Akaba to the Southern extremity of the basin of manners, incidents of travel in wild coun of the Dead Sea, and another from the neigh tries, with indications of the national charac-borhood of Mount Carmel on the Mediterrateristics both of Greeks and Turks, will be nean across the plain of Esdraelon to the found in the volumes. The whole, however, break (Captain Allen says the only break) has a desultory character, which is further increased by the intermixture of narrative with speculative discussion, the last mostly bearing on the great project of the author.

that occurs in the mountain ranges bordering the "fissure." These two canals once finished, the waters of the Mediterranean and Red Sea would rush in, and with a fall of 1300 As regards magnitude either of conception feet, speedily fill up the valley; when, almost or result, Captain Allen's plan throws all other as quickly as the hey presto of a conjurer, you projects into the shade." The "velificatus have an inland ocean, furnishing as short a Athos" of Xerxes-the communication be- passage to India as the overland route, and tween the Nile and the Red Sea of Sesostris, putting an end to the squabbles and difficulif Sesostris were the monarch-the talked-of ties raised by the partisans of Egyptian railcanal from the Danube to the Euxine-and ways and canals. Difficulties of course there even the connection of the Atlantic and Paci- are, natural, social, political; the last two are fic Oceans, fade into small undertakings com- thus stated and disposed of:pared with the scheme of Captain Allen. The requisite data, indeed, on which it is founded, have yet to be tested; and if the levels of the desert lying to the Eastward of the Isthmus of Suez are not what they ought to be, the Cap tain's speculation would become still more difficult than it is, if not altogether impossible. However, the theory is this.

The execution of a project so vast could not of course be carried out without some sacrifices; magnitude of the advantages to be derived in exbut these will be trifling when compared with the change. For instance, a large portion, some 2000 square miles, of the territories belonging to our faithful and gallant ally, his Highness the Sultan, will be submerged; together with a city of perhaps some thousands of inhabitants, and some Arab villages. But the territory is useless, being for the most part incapable of cultivation. especially the Southern Ghor, or Wady Arabah The Northern Ghor, or valley of the Jordan, has taken by the wandering tribes of Arabs who ca some fertility, of which but little advantage is priciously cultivate small portions of it here and there. The city of Tiberias is a filthy heap of ruined buildings, hemmed in between the lake and steep barren mountains, from which a forced removal to a fertile and adjacent neighborhood would be a blessing to the debased, apathetic, The Dead Sea, a New Route to India: with and wretched inhabitants. The villages consist other Fragments and Gleanings in the East. By of mud huts, temporary by their nature, or of Captain William Allen, R.N., F.R.S., etc.; Author tents, which are intentionally so. From all of "The Narrative of the Niger Expedition." In these the occupants derive little advantage, and two volumes. Published by Longman and Co. his Highness less revenue Their condition, be

From his own observation, and a consideration of the facts observed by others, Captain Allen comes to the conclusion that the Dead Sea was not produced by the miraculous destruction of the guilty cities, (though he does not doubt the miracle,) but, like many other inland seas on the earth's surface, is the result of natural causes. From a point in the Southern depression of the Lebanon range to the head of the Gulf of Akaba, (the Eastern branch of the head of the Red Sea,) there exists for a considerable part of the way a deep valley,

sides, might be immensely improved by the ac- doubt whether the Turks, Jews and Arabs, tivity and trade which would be stimulated would be readily moved in its favor. Still through the navigation of the canal by ships of all greater difficulties might be found in the finannations; and the Sultan would draw great reve-cial part of the business. In the present stage nues by transit-dues where he now receives noth of the question, we think the natural obstacles ing; and as remuneration for the loss of this un

profitable territory, some of the finest countries are more than all. Of that part of Arabia of the world, the early seats of population- the Stony which intervenes between the Dead namely, those of the Rephaim, the Zuzim, and Sea basin and the Gulf of Akaba we know the Emim, the trans-Jordanic provinces, so judi- little, indeed nothing for a practical object like ciously chosen by some tribes of the Jews-a ship-canal. Of the valley to be filled up by would be rendered easy of access by means of the inpouring of the ocean we do not know the proposed canal. The Jews would possibly enough to pronounce upon the engineering object strongly to the loss of Tiberias, which is feasibility of the project. Neither has the one of the four holy cities; but they are strangers from Russia, Poland, etc., who have no proplain of Esdraelon itself been sufficiently surperty in it, and come there in the hope of seeing indeed, Captain Allen himself admits:veyed. The necessity of a thorough survey,

the Messiah rise out of the lake.

*

*

*

Thus I think a strong case has been made out I proposed in the winter 1853-'4, to go and of profit for his Highness the Sultan; and in ad- survey them, (the localities,) if her Majesty's dition to these advantages to be derived by the Government would have granted me the assistopening of communication by the proposed ship. ance of an engineer officer; and Captain Collincanal, are the facilities it would afford his sub-son, R. E. very handsomely offered to accompa jects in making their pilgrimage to Mekka. The ny me, provided the Government would pay his Syrian Hadj, which collects all the pilgrims of bare expenses. My Lords of the Treasury, howthe East, and has its rendezvous at Damascus, ever, though " appreciating my motives, did not might embark at some port nearest to it, on the feel justified in acceding to my request." new gulf; whence they could be conveyed in I presume it was foreseen that the services of steamers fitted for the purpose, to their destina- every engineer officer would soon be required; tion, instead of having a toilsome and dangerous otherwise, it was a small thing to ask of the march of six weeks through an inhospitable de-country for a great national advantage; or at sert. They would be brought back in the same all events, for an interesting point in physical way. The only thing to be advanced against geography, for which I was desirous of giving this method of performing a pilgrimage would my own services gratis. The American Govbe, that, by depriving it of hardship and romance, ernment sent an expedition at great expense, all the merit is also abstracted; so that the prac- to survey the Jordan, without any ulterior obtice itself may fall into desuetude, which indeed, ject.

has, I believe, already commenced. This is not Few readers, we suppose, but will agree with to be regretted; inasmuch as, like every other improvement in the facilities of intercourse, it the Captain in his opinion.

will be a deathblow to fanaticism.

There is a detailed description, illustrated In like manner a steamer might ply between by plans and diagrams, of the double port and Jerusalem and the head of the new gulf for the tunnel of ancient Seleucia; a wonderful work benefit of Christian pilgrims; who would then for its skill and solidity, though we cannot be able to bathe in the pure waters of the Jordan agree with Captain Allen in thinking that it near their source at the foot of Mount Hermon; would be worth while to lay out money in its not contaminated, as it now is, by the reception restoration and improvement, at all events at of the Hieromax Jabbok, and other small torrents, washing down the sides of the mountain present, and on the mere chance of making a ranges bordering the Ghor. As the identical trade. The traveller also moots, but perhaps spot where our Saviour was baptized by John is imperfectly pursues a curious subject, the unknown,-Greeks believing in one spot, and effects of denuding mountains of their forests Latins being as firmly convinced that another is upon the fertility and consequent population the true place, other and minor divisions of of the countries where this process goes on. Christians are obliged to yield to the most influ- There is no doubt but that in Greece and ential, or to the fiat of the Turkish commander Syria the ancient forests have been destroyof the Hadj; otherwise, if they were consulted, ed, and either the soil itself has become detethere would be as many as there are different riorated, or the want of moisture consequent sects; so that the true and only efficacious place upon the loss of wood has rendered the land for consummating the grand object of the pilgrim's life would be as much multiplied as is the True Cross. Therefore it would be an advantage to all to point out the undeniably pure Jordan, at its source, and to give them the means of going thither.

Notwithstanding all these religious and political reasons in favor of the scheme, we

DXCI. LIVING AGE. VOL. X. 47

less productive. There may, however, be some difficulty in deciding between cause and effect. Has the shortsighted felling of forests (without replanting) caused the degradation of the people? or did the degradation of the people cause the denudation of the forests?

Like most travellers, Captain Allen entertains a good opinion of the Turks, and a very

bad one of the Greeks. Their oppression is of oppression from the Turks is unjust, at this nearly if not altogether a thing of the past, time at all events, since they are all but indeespecially in the islands, where they have de pendent. They only give utterance to comfacto self-government,-paying for it, how- plaints of traditional rapacities.

ever.

This sketch is from Mytilene, but the facts are substantially the same in other places:

the Captain's own observation serve to show Occurrences, however, which passed under The population of the island is between 60,000 that the Turkish power is in a disorganized and 70,000, chiefly Greeks; of whom 12,000 are state; being probably weakened by the wellin the town. The government is actually in the meant attempts of the European Ambassadors hands of the Greek inhabitants, as the Turkish to give a milder and more civilized character Governor is nearly nominal, and very easily re- to Turkish rule and punishments. On seve duced to that condition if he shows any disposi-ral occasions our traveller was stopped by the tion to be obnoxious. For this purpose double dangerous state of the district, owing to gangs the amount of taxes required by the government of robbers. Under a vigorous Pasha of the at Stamboul is usually collected, and one-half is old school this would have been promptly rereserved for a fund to bribe the Sublime (virtue medied by a fall of heads. Under the new of the) Porte.

While they do not scruple to overtax them- system, authority seems paralyzed; probably selves for this unworthy object, they will not it has not the power of inflicting that prompt raise a piaster for the repairs of the town, or for punishment which alone can keep order among clearing out their harbor, which is capable of a semi-barbarous people. In some places sogreat improvement, inasmuch as it was formerly good, and now it is useless. It only requires the exercise of a little industry, and a small outlay of capital. I will not venture to affirm that this would restore it to the condition in which it was under ancient Hellenic enterprise, but it might be made available for small coasting-vessels.

Still, with all the sagacity and aptness for trade evinced by the Greeks of the present day, blind hatred for the Turks paralyzes their exertions when there is any prospect of their participating in the advantages. As in the present case, the restoration of the harbor, although it would he of immense benefit to themselves, would give increased revenue to the Sultan; which is quite sufficient to make them forego the far greater advantages they would derive. Their complaint

ciety seems passing into anarchy. There also appears to be a sluggishness for sustained enterprise about the Turks, which peeps out on common occasions. This is a slight but preg nant instance:—

There is a mixed population of Turks, Ansaïri, and Christians [at Swediah]. The last greatly predominate. The land is possessed by the Turks; and there is a marked difference wher ever they undertake to cultivate it, as they are incapable of continuous exertion. There is, consequently, a slovenly character about their farms and gardens; and the soil, not being well cultivated, yields a proportionately small return. The Turk on his own land is not so well off as the Christian on that for which he pays rent.

HAMPSHIRE PROVINCIAL WORDS.-In a former volume one of your correspondents happily suggested that a collection of provincial words and expressions should be made in "N. & Q." As education is now on the advance in our coun try villages, the provincial dialect and "simple annals" of the poor are fast disappearing. It is therefore of some importance to gather and preserve the homely language and phraseology of the people.

Perhaps the following list of words, which I have collected from time to time, may prove ac ceptable to some of your readers.

แ

Civil, good-natured; used much of animals, as a civil dog."

Frout, frit, frightened.

Pure, well, in good health.

Safe, sure, as safe to die."

Nens as he was, "much the same as he was." Pretty nens one, "pretty much the same." Thumb, a name given to the "mousehunt," or smallest of the weasel tribe.

Pooks, haycocks.

From The Spectator.

DR. DORAN'S QUEENS OF ENGLAND
OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER.*

full light upon the whole reign of George the Second, and the early times of George the Third. For a later period there are the Memoirs of Madame D'Arblay, (Fanny Burney), THE lives of the Queens of England since the Malmesbury and Buckingham papers, the the accession of the house of Brunswick have lives of Eldon and Sidmouth, with many interest in various points of view. The bio- other publications, of less value and authority, graphy of Sophia Dorothea of Zell, wife of perhaps, but containing curious particulars. George the First, though not very eventful, There is also the daily press, getting fuller has the mystery attaching to her connection and fuller as time rolls on, till at the "Queen's with Count Königsmark, which ended in his Trial" it becomes as full as the greatest lover assassination, and her imprisonment for life. of scandal could desire. There is, however, Her relationship to the court of Hanover-one peculiarity in connection with this amplithe Elector and the father of Sophia were tude of authorities. A large portion of the brothers-offers a fair opportunity of describ- works are, or have been, the "new books" of ing the politics, intrigues, morals, and man- this generation, with which the reading public ners of the German courts from a hundred are already acquainted. Dr. Doran's labors and fifty to two hundred years ago; which do not leave an impression of research but of Dr. Doran by no means omits. Sophia's cous-reading: they have as much the air of an artiinship to George the First likewise furnishes cle as a book. a fit occasion for giving a genealogical and This peculiarity is inevitable. The fulness historical sketch of the house of Brunswick. with which the private life and vices of the The life of Caroline, wife of George the first two Georges are exhibited, rendering the Second, was externally happier than that of biography of Sophia Dorothea, especially, less her mother-in-law Sophia, if not, owing to the a life of the Queen than of the King, is a fault coarse infidelity of her husband, in reality. that might easily have been avoided, though Perhaps, however, she did not feel this; for at the expense of some curious if not very Caroline was ambitious; ruled her husband edifying matter. A natural wish not to lose secretly; and was conspicuously before the singular and characteristic particulars has inpublic herself as a belle esprit, patroness of duced Dr. Doran to overlay his professed subliterature and philosophy, and a friend of ject with facts and stories as illustrative of learning. Queen Charlotte, the "old Queen" the times as of the lives of his Queens; and of the last generation, had little strength or at these particulars are sometimes out of place least elevation of character, and, as general where they are found, though they would do opinion painted her when the first heyday of very well in separate chapters on the manyouth was over, very little of attractiveness.ners of the first half of the eighteenth cenThe madness of her husband, and the miscon- tury. The great defect of the book is the duct of her two eldest sons during that mad-tone. Dr. Doran has forgotten that the rather ness, gave something of a Lear-like air to a forced fun which is appropriate to such topics large portion of her life, and to the reader as dress and dining is not so fit for the lives redeems it from insipidity by suffering. The of queens, or the characteristics of kings, nocareer of Caroline of Brunswick, from the bles, and courts. It is possible that in his time when Malmesbury appeared at the court ethical censures he is sometimes a little harsh of her father to demand her hand for "the under all circumstances, and sometimes looks first gentleman in Europe," until she died, at the mode as much as the morality. We mortified, worn-out, and broken-hearted, seven- know that the populace were highly indignant and-twenty years afterwards, is full of trouble, at the coarseness and ungainliness of George change, and turmoil. And though there is nothing in her course either lofty or attract ive, there is much over which the moralist may ponder, and the lover of gossip revel.

Very sufficient materials exist for a delineation of the lives of these Queens, except Sophia Dorothea, respecting whose character, and whose guilt or innocence, not much of a conclusive nature is really extant. Walpole's numerous publications, Lord Hervey's Memoirs published within these few years, and several collections of family papers, throw a

Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover. By Dr. Doran, Author of "Table Traits," "Habits and Men," etc. In two volumes. Published by Bentley.

the First's German ladies; but that was surely the King's affair. Dr. Doran's book, however, is an extraordinary repository of facts and anecdotes connected with the courts of Germany and England for a century and a half; and a very humiliating picture it is.

One feature of the book is the number of

portraits introduced, of persons about whom the general reader knows little or nothing. Here is a name well enough known, but how few have heard of the individual, a natural daughter of George the First:

Her more celebrated sister, who married the Earl of Chesterfield, and in whose name her husband is said to have compelled George II. to pay