ST. JOHN'S RESIDENCE IN THE LEVANT.

for the night, and often describes, with singular felicity, the beauties of Oriental scenery at that still season.

Among the institutions of the East, there is one, unfortunately, too well known all the world over-we mean that of slavery, which even Christianity itself, hostile as it is to it, has not yet been able totally to eradicate. Public opinion, more powerful in the East than religion, prolongs the date of the detestable system, in spite of the letter and spirit of the gospel. Many travellers have apologized, more or less formally, for domestic slavery among the Muslims. They say it is mild, and so in some respects it is compared with the slavery of other countries; but still it is a bitter draught.' Nothing can ever reconcile the mind to the reducing of one human being to be the property of another, which, in fact, is sinning against the first principle of humanity-equality. We are all equal before God; and whoever aims at establishing the contrary, is, in spirit and feeling, a tyrant. No doubt it is possible to mitigate the horrors even of slavery, but it is disgraceful to the possessors of intellect to palliate its infamies, or to seek, by sophistry and cunning, to ward off the detestation of mankind. Mr. Bayle St. John points out, with great acuteness, the mischievous nature of the institution, even under its most favourable aspect, in the following very touching passage:

6

During the early time of my residence with Sitt Madoula, before I was considered part of the family, I went to see her one morning, and found her in conversation with a tall, handsome black girl, wrapped in The Sitt reclined in the corner of her a white melagah, or mantle. divan, smoking a shosheh, whilst the girl stood at a little distance, with After the usual compliments, I was told her hands meekly crossed. that this was a slave belonging to a Turkish lady just arrived with her suite from Algiers, to meet her husband, who, however, had gone on to Stamboul, leaving word that she was to follow. As, however, he had forgotten likewise to leave money enough to defray the expenses of the journey, it seemed quite natural to the lady to dispose of one of her handmaidens, and accordingly this one had been selected. Zarifeh herself was telling the story as I entered, and although it did not seem to occur to her that she was the victim of a most unjust system, she could not help expressing her regret at being thus suddenly thrown out I elicited the fact that of the bosom of one family to seek for a place in another, or rather to take the place which chance might assign her. although her mistress sometimes beat her even for talking in her sleep, and for being frightened on board the vessel in which they had coasted the whole north of Africa, yet, considering all things, she had been happy with her. Here, then, was one instance in which the muchvaunted kindness with which the Orientals treat their slaves was turned into a weapon of torture to them. The stronger they are bound by ties of affection to their owners, the more cruelly are their feelings,

of Apollonia made the important step of endowing the px, or primary substance, the soul, with intelligence: he is dismissed, however, with a dozen lines; and with no reference either to Aristotle, Cicero, Eusebius, or any writer. Schleiermacher has also a paper on the philosophy of Diogenes. Similar is the deficiency in respect to Leucippus, the founder of atomism. Aristotle's account of his main principles should have been referred to; but no references to any testimony are given, unless we might so consider the observation that Huet and Bayle have both remarked that his theory is very similar to that of Descartes.' But we must not dwell longer on these philosophers of the earlier schools. On the whole, we have, sometimes, been a good deal disappointed with the part of the work which relates to the ancient schools of Greece-for instance, the account of Plato. We have, on this philosopher, not quite a dozen pages, followed by a heap of references. This, in a work of more than 2,000 pages, is a small comparative allowance, especially considering what has been done by the Germans. Very meagre, also, is the account of Aristotle. There are barely six pages on his metaphysic, if even all those pages can be said to be on it. About twenty more are given to logic and the syllogism, in which the syllogism is strangely discussed first. Another chapter follows, on analysis, synthesis, and analogy, as in use among the ancients. In common with ourselves, we presume that the reader would expect to find here some allusion to the synthesis and analysis of those illustrious men, the Greek geometers; but there is no reference to them whatever. Let it not be said that this has nothing to do with a philosophy of the mind; for these two mental processes surely deserve to be exhibited in their various applications. Analysis and synthesis, as understood by the Newtonians, differ much from the original geometrical meanings. The terms are found in chemistry, physics, and the philosophy of the mind; but with an essentially different sense from that of the Greek geometers. We might surely have looked for something like a little history of these important terms, in an express dissertation on them.

We have a final chapter in that part of the work which treats of the Greek and Roman philosophy, on the opinions of the ancient philosophers, up to this period of history, on a Deity, and the human soul. The author here remarks, justly, that there are two extreme classes of opinion with regard to natural theology. Some good men have been very jealous of allowing any natural knowledge at all of the Supreme Being. They have contended that Revelation must have the sole honour of making known to man the existence and attributes of a Deity; and that without it no knowledge of God would now have been found

evanescent affection for Zarifeh was here wafted away on a long sigh; and she added, smilingly, "I shall send to-morrow morning for half a dozen girls from Jellaba. You must be here to give your opinion."-P. 139.

It would be easy to multiply similar extracts almost ad infinitum; but the specimens we have selected will suffice to show how full of amusement and variety the volume is. Mr. St. John has carefully noticed every phenomenon of Levantine society, which he has ably contrasted with that of the Muslims. He has likewise contrived to introduce into his work an account of Mohammed Ali and the government of Egypt, of which he has formed a correct appreciation. The Jesuitical manners of the old Pasha could not impose upon him, and still less the inferior arts of such persons as Abbas Pasha and Artim Bey. These individuals, considering themselves to be distinguished disciples of Macchiavelli, imagine they can easily overreach European travellers, whom they look upon, often very justly, as weak and superficial incarnations of vanity and self conceit. Occasionally they make a mistake, and encounter among the horde of visitors some one qualified to turn the tables on them, and penetrate through their wiles and devices, without being in the slightest degree intelligible to them. Mr. Bayle St. John seems to have performed this agreeable duty pre-eminently well, and is entitled to the respect of the reader accordingly.

But there are other things in Egypt besides Turks and Pashas, and the odious intrigues of petty courts. There is the charm of grand solitudes, and the aspect of a physical nature more beautiful in its kind than anything offered to the eye by European regions. It is a vulgar error to regard the Nilotic Valley as unpicturesque. Peculiar, no doubt, it is; but that it abounds with the materials of poetry-in other words, that it is capable of influencing the imagination, and of generating elevated and romantic ideas in the mind, will be evident from the following passage. It occurs in a delightful story which Mr. St. John relates of a dreamy German, who, for the recovery of his health, took up his abode in Rossetta, the Er Rashid of the Orientals.

From the terraced roof of his house, when the scorching heats of the day had passed-when the sun was only to be seen in patches of red or gold low down among the palm-trees on the borders of the desert-when the panting land of Egypt was inhaling, in long voluptuous draughts, the cool evening breezes from the sea-when the groves and the fields were bathing their dusty vegetation in the balmy dews of twilight-when the last songs of the boatmen were trembling along the listless surface of the Nile-when the birds were coming home from the rice-grounds, and the bandit hawk was unwillingly

quitting his look-out upon the minaret, and the owl showed his great capacious head on some old fragment of wall-when the gaudy moths were hicing gaily to consume themselves in the first flickering taper that gleamed, like dashing young lovers in the flame of an early passion-when hungry dogs yelled angrily at the heels of some solitary passer-by - when the notes of distant musical instruments were sprinkled into "the drowsy ear of night," or the sound of boisterous merriment swept up from the river-side-when measured voices from tottering minarets impressed the necessity of prayer upon congregations that had vanished from the earth-when the rising moon formed a silver background to the dusky lace-work of palm-groves that adorned the outline of the Delta-when the stars stooped into sight, like fair damsels from their mysterious balconies in the sky-above all, when, at the hour of midnight, Nature seemed to faint into silence, to swoon with amazement at her own beauty and solitude-then it was that Herman, from the terraced roof of his house, would take flight on the wings of his imagination, and search round the depths of the heavens for his ideal!'-P. 279.

We have omitted to allude to very many topics touched upon. in Mr. St. John's volume, but must not forget to observe that there are several stories introduced, which, for fidelity of description, and simplicity and force of narrative, resemble, and in many respects equal, the tales of the Arabian Nights.' This is more particularly the case with Mohammed the ill-favoured, and Fatmeh the well-favoured,' which discloses much of the interior economy of a Muslim family. No ground is described but that which the writer himself has travelled over-the Delta, the banks of the Nile, and the environs of Cairo. Fouah, where the story commences, is a place of irregular appearance, the aspect of which has not been greatly modified by the establishment of factories within its walls. Nowhere, perhaps, in Lower Egypt, can you enjoy from the roof of your house more delicious prospects at morning or evening. On one side you behold the boundless desert, stretching away towards the setting sun; while close at your feet flows the mighty Nile, with blue or ruddy waters, according to the season of the year. On the other side you have long ranges of palm-forests, interspersed with lakes and ponds, and bright green rice-fields, and villages, and minarets, and light and graceful Sheikhs' tombs, bathed in the soft glow of evening. On the mimosas, or sycamores, near at hand, you behold flocks of the white ibis resting on branches like huge flower petals, or incrustations of snow; while the roofs of the town (flat and parapeted) swarm with evening parties, smoking or sipping sherbet in the open air. Here and there, perhaps, a sweet female voice rises through the twilight, accompanied by the sounds of musical instruments, interrupted at times by the wild howl of the jackal; such is Fouah, where few Europeans have ever

resided, though there is scarcely a town in Egypt where one could pass a few months more pleasantly. Mr. Bayle St. John has visited it, and profited by his familiarity with so beautiful a spot. At the end of the volume, we are pleased to see announced a series of views illustrating his visit to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon.

ART. III.-History of the Philosophy of Mind. By Robert Blakey, Esq. 8vo. Four Vols. London: Saunders.

FEW subjects have been expressed under a greater variety of names, than that of which the history is proposed to be given in the volumes before us. Intellectual philosophy, metaphysics, psychology, the physiology of the mind, are examples of these terms, among many others. On the continent, this study has been known by the designation of speculative philosophy; and sometimes it has been simply called-philosophy. In Scotland, we may find it laxly included, together with ethics, under the name of moral philosophy. In England, it has long been called the philosophy of mind, the term chosen by our author. The only objection that we know of to this otherwise strictly appropriate designation is, that, according to the letter, it expresses more than it is intended to convey-which is the philosophy of the human mind.

The philosophy of mind, in general, cannot with propriety be restricted to the human mind. In strictness, it concludes a vast field limited only by the line of demarcation which separates the gross materialism everywhere surrounding us, and certain forces and agencies (such as heat, light, and the various electricities), from those phenomena which, in the form of will, intelligence, and feeling, present to our observation something which we know not how to class in any category of mechanical or chemical causation. Thus we speak of mind in brutes. Nor can we help doing so. The sagacity of some animals, apart from their wonderful and unvarying instincts, at once leads us to a sort of comparative philosophy of mind, which obliges us to confess our ignorance respecting some of our theoretic distinctions between man and the creatures immediately below him, however familiarly these distinctions may have been supposed by us to be ascertained. We need not say, with some, that man is only the evolution of a molluscum, in order to render consistent our