tangible form to his conception, a form which expressed the thought in its clearness, as well as the internal subordination of each element of feeling to the pervading sentiment of the whole.

The Mosque of Cordova may not compare, in the perfection of its architecture, with the Parthenon or the Strasburg Minster; but it is surprising how, out of the discordant materials at their command, out of ancient pillars of various orders and Byzantine mosaics and African marbles, the Spanish Arabs contrived to erect a structure, which was not only one of the most wonderful works of human hands, but was so singularly adapted in its external form to the peculiar characteristics of the Arabian mind. For it typified to the Arab the Paradise that he imagined to himself as he thirsted in the burning wastes of the deserts after water and shade, a spot cool and sheltered, where the murmuring of fountains lulled him to soft sleep and dreams of bliss. It was the concentration on earth of all the joys that the true believer was to possess on the other side of the grave. In its great court, under thickly-arching trees, played a bubbling fountain, like that by the side of which the blessed were one day to rest; and in the stillness of its vast spaces, dark as with the darkness of sacred groves, with the pillars thick as forest-trees, and the plinths and arches stretching from one to another and spreading themselves overhead, like branches of the tuba, the wondrous tree of Paradise, the pining soul of Islam revelled in solitary delight; for the Paradise it dreamed of was made real to the senses. But, marvellous as this creation of the Arabian architect was, it illustrates in its very conception this limited subjective character of the Arabian mind. For it was not an ideal type of beauty they aimed at, not even an imitation of nature, but simply a vast space sacred to silence and to rest.

H. J. W.

THE author of "Five Years in Damascus and of " Murray's Handbook for Syria" has not done so well in his account of the unvisited and almost unknown Bashan,* but that we wish he had done better. He has been too anxious to interlard his narrative with Scripture quotations, forgetting that all his readers have their Bibles at hand; but hardly any have any description of the Peræa which he was privileged to visit, which remained an unsuspected treasure-house

* The Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places. By the Rev. J. L. PORTER. New York: Nelson & Sons, 1866.

of magnificent ruins till a recent time, and even now is shut against almost every visitor of Palestine by ferocious hordes of Bedouins. One portion of this "desert land" is, however, an exception. Crossing the Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob, at the northern end of the Lake of Tiberias, we travelled three days through this Arab territory without molestation, and with only a single armed guard, over the identical road which St. Paul took on his eventful journey to Damascus. But this is not the region of the grand remains, to which Mr. Porter devotes less than a hundred pages, unillustrated in the American edition by any map, tantalizing one by very brief details, rounded off with a passage from Ezekiel or Isaiah. But here is the wonderful fact: a country of exceeding beauty and rare fertility, a part of that Palestine now so easily and so frequently visited, exemplifying perfectly the patriarchal life among its tented tribes, containing numerous cities with perfectly habitable houses, yet less explored than the pestilential coasts of Africa, or the frozen solitudes of the North Pole. It seems stranger than fiction, that hundreds of cities in this once-crowded region contain numberless houses as habitable as when they were erected, not a roof shattered, not a wall rent, not a door removed, — stone cells we might term them, yet ornamented, comfortable, adapted to the sultry climate, giving unmistakable glimpses of domestic life two thousand years ago. From the battlements of the Castle of Saleals, Mr. Porter counted thirty towns and villages, dotting the fertile plain, whose nearly perfect houses had not boasted an occupant for more than five hundred years.

Suweideh, the largest of these deserted cities, being entered over a Roman bridge, through a Roman gateway, gave to view a straight, paved street, a mile long, lined with elegant remains, now the ruins of a fountain, now a church, now a theatre, now an aqueduct, now a Corinthian peristyle, now what the author strangely styles an "opoea;" but ruin heaped upon ruin, of various styles and different ages, temples transformed into churches, churches into mosques, and all now abandoned to utter desolation, in this city, however, relieved by a few hundred Druses, a fanatical sect, who till the soil rudely, and maintain a life-and-death struggle with the Arabs.

Bozrah, the ancient capital, contains two theatres, six temples, ten churches or mosques, besides palaces, baths, fountains, aqueducts, triumphal arches, and other structures, all in ruins, additional to a grand castle, the strongest in Syria. Just here, when we hope to pass hand in hand with the courageous missionary through these vast

architectural monuments of a buried race, he mocks us with a Scripture passage, not written of Bozrah in particular: "Thus saith the Lord God of the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that their land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate" (Ezek. xii. 19, 20).

The principal part of the book is upon Jordan and the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and its environs, the land of the Philistines, Galilee and the Northern-Border Land, accounts of repeated visits through the length and breadth of the Holy Land, with continual references to prophecy, and the occasional discovery of lost localities; but not adding materially to the admirable collection of intelligence in his invaluable "Guidebook." Rev. Mr. Porter is a person of strict veracity, marked courage, and religious enthusiasm, but not a little mistakes as to the kind of intelligence even the Christian public, and far more the world of letters, desires at his hand.

F. W. H.

THE English commander of "the loyal and faithful auxiliary legion" in the Chinese Revolution, having lost his wife in battle, having seen his rebel friends driven back to a small territory near where they commenced the warfare, finding little more occasion for active service while the British Government turned its irresistible artillery against the almost unarmed Ti-pings, has yielded to the desire of the insurrectionary leaders, and become their historian in the beautifully illustrated work, "Ti-ping Tien-Kwoh." *

A personal interest is inwoven with the story: Lin-le marries a native lady; she is stolen; he rescues her at the peril of his life. By and by, after more than enough adventures for an ordinary novel, including one attempt at his life by the jealous lady, she falls at his side in battle. Of course, the hero of his own story is all that is heroic. But his judgment does not equal his courage. His censure of the rebels for not capturing Pekin, and for dividing their forces too much, by garrisoning various captured cities, may be just enough; but, whatever they did, while the English generals and admirals were abusing their pretended neutrality to fighting battles for the Imperialists, and winning victories where they had only known defeats, all

* Ti-ping Tien-Kwoh: the History of the Ti-ping Revolution. By Lin-le, Special Agent of the Ti-ping General-in-chief. London Day & Son, 1866.

2 vols.

was certain to go wrong. The best opportunity Christianity ever had of working its way into the heart of these four hundred millions under the patronage of men who swept away every vestige of idolatry, circulated the Scriptures, solicited missionaries, prohibited opiumsmoking, torture in courts of law, prostitution, the slave trade, deformity of feet, and shaving of heads - was wantonly thrown away. Lin-le asserts that a single missionary's refusal to establish himself at the rebel capital ruined the rebel cause, and forfeited the greatest missionary opening of our time. This seems an extravagance. But it is hardly possible to keep calm, and read the capture of town after town, effected by English artillery, completed by the indiscriminate massacre of every man, woman, and child, with tortures too horrid to be told. And, even after Major Gordon was reproved by Sir F. Bruce for violating his promised protection by permitting the murder of thirty thousand at Soochow, in the capture of Wusee, Karangfoo, Hwhasoo, and Changchowfoo, like atrocities were perpetrated under the military superintendence of this same English officer. Nor were the battles such as civilized men should have engaged in a second time. The loss of the rebel natives in a single contest would amount to thousands, when not more than a single Englishman would be slain, because wooden stockades were assailed by sixty-two pounders, and defended by bamboo spears, gingalls, and brickbats. To rain destruction for twenty hours upon utterly helpless natives, who could not make any effectual reply, — in support of an effete tyranny which insulted its very defenders, paid no debts save upon compulsion, and arrayed itself against every step of civilization,-is not the warfare of which an Englishman should be proud. And all this defeat of new-born hopes, this conflagration of hundreds of towns, this starving of hundreds of thousands by the destruction of public granaries everywhere, to be wrought under the mask of civilized neutrality!

F. W. H.

TRANSYLVANIA is shown by Mr. Boner* to be one of the most backward countries in Europe, — rich in mines, of an exceedingly fertile soil, with baths of wonderful efficacy, and yet quite undeveloped. Partly because of its utter destitution of railroads, partly because of the superstitious attachment of its natives to the old ways, partly because of excessive taxation and governmental oppression, the people are

* Transylvania: its Products and its People. By CHARLES BONER. London: Longmans, 1865.

not happy, or progressive, or worthy of their position. Many of the Transylvanian customs have been kept hundreds of years unchanged: the same antiquated looms are employed as men admire to-day upon the monuments of Egypt; the same custom of storing the grain in the church-vaults as was caused by the invasions from Turkey; the ornaments of the women even are hundreds of years old; the very sayings of grandparents are repeated as unquestionable oracles ;every thing new is wrong, every thing antiquated is still the mode. To the best measures of the Austrian Government the Transylvanian answer is, “It is an innovation; so that the wisdom of statesmen and the policy of cabinets seem to be kept at bay by this ignorant conservatism. Meanwhile, superb ruins all over the country are being destroyed for peasants' huts, public roads are left to perish for want of repairs, and only the Wallach and the Gypsy are increasing in numbers, wealth, and influence.

Disappointed of any information as to the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, we have to be satisfied with an anecdote or two about the Greek, agreeing as they do with what we have seen of that effete institution in adjoining lands. A friend of the author's, finding a party of natives dragging their priest along as prisoner on a Saturday, was informed that they were about to lock him up, so that he might not be too tipsy the next morning to read service. Another Greek priest begged of the Protestant minister some paper that was written upon, and was furnished with his daughter's old copy-books. Afterwards, strips of these books were given out by this illiterate priest as marriage certificates. Still another threatened his people, that, if they did not fast and pray more, God would send grasshoppers to desolate the land; and the same threat was found to have been circulated through the district.

Kossuth is spoken of very plainly as a consummate orator and an admirable writer, but neither a statesman nor a soldier; sincere and well-intentioned, but lax in discipline, irresolute, and insatiable. Boner's view, the view of the Hungarian nobility, is that Kossuth gathered around him a body of enthusiastic followers by the of power his eloquence, precipitated measures for which the better classes were not prepared, and hurried on reform faster than it was possible for the people to go. The failure of his measures injured the country exceedingly, though many of the enmities excited by the war are already forgotten, and no idea of another struggle seems to be entertained.

F. W. H.