and Co. for printing works in progress, and in the value of Messrs. Constable and Co.'s paper on hand; but ultimately will be very valuable. See appendix as to these works. In the debtor and creditor account of Constable and Co. with Ballantyne and Co. the following item occurs on the credit side:Sums advanced by Constable and Co. to Sir Walter Scott, being their two-third shares of sums stipulated to be paid in advance for two works of fiction not named, and not yet written, as per missives, dated 7th and 20th March, 1823. N. B. These works being undelivered, it is considered the author has an undoubted right to retain them,* and impute the sums paid to account in the general balance owing to Constable and Co. In Appendix No. II. being estimates of funds that may accrue to Ballantyne and Co. within a year, occur several curious particulars relative to Woodstock and the Life of Napoleon Buonaparte. Produce of new works by Sir W. Scott, at present in the course of publication: 1. Woodstock, 3 vols. 9500; shop-price 31s. 6d.......£14,926 10 0 Deduct one-third, to reduce to trade price, and cover expences of sale Cost of paper and printing (same as 4,987 10 Redgauntlet) Sum to cover contingencies 2,225 0 1,000 0 8,212 10 0 Remains...... 6,750 00 Add value of copyright, after first impression...... 1,300 Produce of Woodstock............ £8,050 00 2. Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, 5 vols. 8,000 copies, shop price 52s. 6d..... Deduct one-third as above 7,000 0 3. Literary productions by Sir Walter Scott already finished, but not yet published, though in the course of publication, which may be safely stated £1,000 *Were the right the other way, it would be a very difficult matter to enforce it. An author of works of fiction is not to be delivered against his will-a legal process to force Sir Walter Scott to produce a couple of novels, would be the Cæsarean operation in literature. At the second meeting of creditors, held 3d February, 1826A resolution is entered, that the printing establishment should be continued, both as a source of profit, and as necessary for the publication of Sir W. Scott's works; who had requested of Mr. Gibson to communicate, that he was to use every exertion in his power on behalf of the creditors; and by the diligent employment of his talents, and adoption of a strictly economical mode of life, to secure, as speedily as possible, full payment to all concerned. The cause of the delay in the publication of the Life of Napoleon, will be found in the following minute: "The circumstances connected with the two literary works, entitled 'Woodstock,' and the Life of Napoleon Buonaparte,' considered; and the trustees expressed their opinion, that so far as they understood the nature of the bargain between Sir Walter Scott and Constable and Co. that the latter had no claim in law for the proceeds of either of these books; but think it desirable for all parties that they should be finished, which should be communicated to Sir Walter; and also, that he should be requested to give his aid to the sale of them to the best advantage. Mr. Gibson instructed to endeavour to concert some arrangement with Constable and Co. for consigning in some bank the price of the works, until all questions concerning them were decided." On the 26th May, 1826, a meeting was held, when Mr. Gibson reported particulars of sale of Woodstock, 7900 copies of which had been sold to Hurst and Robinson, at 6,5007.; but they being unable to complete the bargain, they had been transferred to Longman and Co. on same terms. The money had been paid, and was deposited with Sir W. Forbes and Co. to wait the issue of decision as to the respective claims of Constable and Co. and Sir W. Scott's trustees, regarding this work. The remainder of the impression had been sold to Constable and Co.'s trustees, at 18s. 6d. each copy, "at a credit of ten months from delivery, with five per cent. discount for any earlier payment," of which the trustees approved. In consequence of advice from Sir Walter Scott and Longman and Co. it had been thought advisable to restrict the first edition of the Life of Napoleon to 6000, instead of 8000 copies, as originally intended. The excerpts contain a great number of items, which lay open the precise state of Sir Walter's private affairs-a hundred years hence they may be a great curiosity, and their publication may then be correct; at present it would certainly be indelicate and unhandsome, not only to the admirable writer himself, but also to several other private individuals. Every thing belonging to a great national genius is public property, and in the course of a short time these Excerpts will be sought for with avidity; and published with as little hesitation as Mr. Todd lately printed Milton's pecuniary squabbles with his motherin-law. BUCKINGHAM'S MESOPOTAMIA.* THIS is a book exceedingly rich in almost every topic that can gratify public curiosity. There are personal adventures, description of singular manners and extraordinary countries, geographical information, industrious historical research, with full accounts of numerous places of the greatest classical and scriptural interest. We were much interested with the perusal of the former portions of Mr. Buckingham's voyage; this, however, decidedly surpasses its elder brethren, both in the variety of its contents, and the talent displayed in the narration. We think we cannot do better than by going regularly through it, and condensing into as small a space as we can not only a collection of the more striking passages, but a general enumeration of the objects, places, and scenes which the traveller encountered. Chapter I. contains Mr. Buckingham's journey from Aleppo to the banks of the Euphrates. He did not proceed by the ordinary route to Bagdad, across the desert, in consequence of the disturbed state of the country. The Wahabee Arabs were in great commotion, in consequence of the abduction of a beautiful virgin from a neighbouring camp, by Mohanna, the great chief of the Anazies, who assumes the title of sultan of the desert. To avoid the hostile movements of the Arabs, a small caravan was about to travel by a circuitous route to Mardin and Muosul on the Tigris. Mr. Buckingham joined the train of a wealthy old merchant, Hadjee Abd-el-Rakhman, who was returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. He thus describes his own dress, accoutrements, and preparations, for the arduous and hazardous expedition he was about to enter upon. My dress and arms were like those of his nephew, Hadjee Abdel Ateef, a young man of twenty-five, who had accompanied his venerable uncle on the pilgrimage. The former consisted of the blue-cloth sherval, jubla, and kemish, of the Arab costume; a large overhanging tarboosh, or red cap, falling over the neck and shoulders behind; a white muslin turban, and a red silk sash: the latter, of a Damascus sabre, a Turkish musket, small carbine, and pistols, with ammunition for each. The conveniences borne on my own horse were, a pipe and tobacco bag, a metal drinking cup, a pocket compass, memorandum books and inkstand on one side of a pair of small khovidj, or Eastern travelling bags; and on the other, the maraboot, or chain-fastenings, and irons for securing the horse, by spiking him at night to the earth, on plains where there are no shrubs A small Turkey carpet, which was to serve for bed, for table, and for prayers; and a woollen cloak for a coverlid during the cold nights, in which we should have to repose on the ground, without covering or shelter, were rolled up behind the seat of the saddle with straps; and my equipment for any length of route, was thus thought to be complete. The supplies I had taken with me for the journey, included a bill of exchange for six hundred piastres (then about 100l. sterling) on a merchant at Bagdad; and nearly two thousand piastres in small gold coin, which, with such papers as I considered of importance to me, I carried concealed in one girdle round my waist, called, by the people, a khumnir, and generally used for this purpose, as it cannot be lost or taken from a traveller, without his being absolutely stripped. or trees. On leaving Aleppo, Mr. Buckingham and his party proceeded north * Travels in Mesopotamia; including a Journey from Aleppo across the Euphrates to Orfah, (the Ur of the Chaldees,) through the Plains of the Turcomans to Diarbekr in Asia Minor, from thence to Mardin on the borders of the Great Desert, and by the Tigris to Mousul and Bagdad: with Researches on the Ruins of Babylon, Nineveh, Arbela, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia. By J. S. Buckingham, Author of Travels in Palestine and the countries East of the Jordan; Travels among the Arab Tribes, &c. London, Colburn, 1827, 1 vol. 4to. wards, and at the end of a day's journey joined the main body of the caravan, at its first station. On the 28th of May the station was broken up at sunrise, and advanced on its route across. The caravan consisted of about four hundred camels, which is thought a small one; the asses and mules might amount to another hundred, and the number of persons three hundred at least. The course lay now to the north-east the first village they arrived at was Oktereen. All the villages hitherto had the air of being ruined ones. The style of building in Oktoreen is singular, each separate dwelling having a high pointed dome of unburnt bricks, raised on a square fabric of stone; so that at a little distance they resembled a cluster of bee-hives on square pedestals. The vessels here used for carrying water from the wells are curious; they are not of earthenware, but all of copper, tinned without and within, are broad at bottom, narrow at top, and about two feet high, with a thick handle on each side. In an hour they arrived at another village called Oktereen, where the mode of churning was observed: the milk is first put into a goat's skin, which is suspended on pegs in the walls, or on poles inclining together and forming a conical rest, like a gypsey's spit or pot-holder; it is then pushed to and fro, until the butter is separated from the watery part, which is then thrown off. The tents were pitched about noon on a wide plain, on which were encamped a horde of Turcomans. The range of Taurus was visible to the west-north-west, distant about fifty miles; its highest part covered with snow. A lamb was killed for supper, and a fine fat sheep, bought for a gold roobeah, about half-acrown. The tents were struck at night, to be ready to depart at sunrise, and all slept in "the open air, beneath a starry canopy of unusual brilliance; and the purity of the atmosphere, with the sweet odour of the fresh young grass, was such as to make even perfumed halls and downy couches, inferior by the contrast." May 29th. They depart at sunrise, and proceed nearly east over the plain. At nine, the caravan reached Shahaboor. The men at this place were dressed nearly as in those through which we had already passed. The women wore on their heads the large red Syrian tarbooh, the loose part overhanging before, while the men permit it to fall behind. These Turcoman females were much better dressed than the Arab women ever are, some of them having red, and others white trowsers; striped silk upper robes, gold ornaments about their heads, their hair hanging in long tresses as in the towns; and their whole appearance neat and interesting. The language used here was Turkish; and, indeed, scarcely any other was heard in the caravan, as the Arabs speak Turkish much more frequently than the Turks do Arabic, from the superior ranks of the military and the government being filled by Turks, who are too proud and too indolent to learn; while the necessities of the others compel them to acquire the language of their masters. About an hour after leaving Shahaboor, the caravan was attacked by about fifty Turcomans, all well mounted, and armed with a short lance, musket, pistols, and sabre. They were frightened away, rather than repelled, by the noisy travellers of the caravan. We had scarcely left Shahaboor an hour behind us, before we were alarmed by a troop of horsemen making towards the caravan, in full speed from the southward. The camels were widely scattered, so much so, that there seemed to be a distance of nearly two miles between their extremes. The design of the enemy being to attack and cut off the rear, all who were mounted rushed towards that quarter, leaving only the men on foot, who were armed, to protect the other parts. The enemy checked their horses, advanced, retreated, wheeled, and manœuvred on the plain, with great skill; and, as APRIL, 1827. 2 N they were all mounted on very beautiful animals, it formed as fine a display of horsemanship as I had ever witnessed. On the other hand, nothing could exceed the confusion and disorder which prevailed in our train. As there was no acknowledged leader, a hundred voices were heard at once, all angry at not being attended to; the women and children shrieked, the asses brayed at the noise of other animals, and the men set up the wildest shouts of defiance. When our enemies, however, betrayed fear, it was the moment chosen by those attacked, to affect courage; and accordingly, all who were dismounted, young and old, came out from among the camels, behind which they had before taken shelter; and those who had muskets without powder, of which there were several, borrowed a charge or two of their neighbours, and idly wasted it in the air. There were at least two hundred balls discharged in this way, in the course of the hour that the Turcomans harrassed us by changing their apparent point of attack, and flying round us with the velocity of the wind. The caravan proceeded-when it halted for a moment to water, and to collect the animals in close order; on the opposite side of the stream most of the people gave loose to their joy, and triumphed in their late escape. In the expression of these feelings, some danced with their naked swords and khandjars, or dirks, in their hands, singing the wildest songs at the time, like the guards of the dolas, or chiefs of the Arab towns in the Yemen, when they precede their governors in their march; and others discharged their pieces in the air. This display of warlike disposition at length terminated in occasioning two or three frays in the caravans, by exciting disputes, as to who had been the foremost and the bravest among them in repelling the late attack; the consequences were serious, for not less than five persons were more or less hurt or wounded in this affair among friends, though not one had received any injury in the attack of the enemy. May 30th. The travellers still proceeding across the extensive and fertile plain, halt at a village of huts and houses, and visit the sheikh. The tent occupied a space of about thirty feet square, and was formed by one large awning, supported by twenty-four small poles, in four rows, of six each, the ends of the awning being drawn out by cords, fastened to pegs in the ground. Each of these poles giving a promoted form to the part of the awning which it supported, the outside looked like a number of umbrella tops, or small Chinese spires. The half of this square was open in front and at the sides, having two rows of poles clear, and the third was closed by a reeded partition, behind which was the apartments for the females, surrounded entirely by the same kind of matting. It thus gave a perfect outline of the most ancient temples; and as these tents were certainly still more ancient as dwellings of men, if not as places of worship to gods, than any buildings of stone, it struck me forcibly on the spot, as a probable model from which the first architectural works of these countries were taken. We had here an open portico of an oblong form, with two rows of columns, of six each, in front, and the third engaged in the wall that enclosed the body of the tent all around; the first corresponding to the porticos of temples; and the last as well in its design as in the sacredness of its appropriations, to the sanctuaries of the most remote antiquity.* The sheikh, whose name was Ramastan, was an old man of eighty, of fine features, combining the characteristics of the Turkish and Arabic race, with large expressive eyes. His complexion was darker than that of the people of Yemen, though somewhat less so than that of the common order of Abyssinians, and this was strongly con trasted by a long beard of silvery white. His divan was spread out with mats and cushions, covered with silk; his dress and arms were plain, yet of the best qualities of their kind; before his tent were two fine mares, well caparisoned, and everything about his establishment wore an appearance of wealth and comfort. Some of the customs and prejudices of the Turcomans who inhabit this plain, are curious. Their horror of a certain indiscretion is said to be so great, that the most violent pains, occasioned by a suppression of it, will not induce them to commit so heinous an * See the representations of the primitive huts in Vetruvius. |