once, two before and two behind; and the other four run alongside, and take their turn, about every five minutes. Your servants travel in lighter conveyances than a palanquin, and have four men each. Then your clothes are packed in square boxes of equal size, and one is fastened to each end of a strong bamboo, which is then put on a man's shoulder, and he keeps up with the rest.

Then, to complete your luxuries! a man with a long torch in one hand, and a bottle of most dreadful oil in the other, keeps quite close to your palanquin, in order to give light to the bearers; so you have the comfort of the smoke and the smell the whole night; and if you meet with no obstacles, and your bearers are strong, you go at the wonderful rate of three and a half miles an hour, or perhaps even four! The whole set is changed every seven or eight miles.Travelling in India, Dublin University Magazine, November.

DISTANT VIEW OF THE HIMALEH MOUNTAIN-RANGE.

[WHEN We read of mountains twenty-seven thousand feet high, we sometimes forget that they do not rise up immediately from the plain, presenting their soaring fronts at one view. They stand on a base of perhaps from three to four hundred miles, and the traveller is a long while ascending before he gets to the snow. Even then, however, the peaks are of a vast height. Near the source of the Ganges, where is the pass into Thibet, itself from eighteen to nineteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, the inaccessible mountain rises not less than eight thousand feet higher. A lady thus describes the general view from Simlah, in the far north of Hindostan, quite in the Indian Highlands.]

It was night when we reached Simlah, so I could not judge of it; but the peculiar smell of the fir-trees was most fragrant, and the soothing note of a bird I enjoyed much. I do not know its name, but as it is only heard at night, and is certainly not a nightingale, I believe it is some species of owl; and you may therefore add it to your long list of my luxuries, for I do not think a musical owl is known in England.

The next morning imagine my delight at seeing the snowy range in the distance,-O, so clearly against the bright sky! The sight of snow even at so great a distance, warmed my heart: how I wish I could describe it to you! Between Simlah and the Eternal Snow there are four ranges of hills to the north, rising one above the other. The two nearest are cultivated, and most brilliant from a kind of barley forming part of the crops, which, when ripe, turns blood-red. Behind these a range covered with trees to the top, chiefly firs of different kinds; then a higher still, perfectly bare and rugged, of a most beautiful deep purple hue; and between them and the blue sky, towers the highest range of the far-famed Himalehs, upon which the snows never melt. I cannot imagine anything more grand than an Indian sunset, (for it is still the eastern sky, though in this delicious climate,) when the red clouds are reflected on the snow. Simlah itself is between seven and eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the highest peaks of these different ranges vary from twelve to twenty-five thousand feet.

To the south, east, and west of Simlah the hills are covered with trees, evergreen oaks, larch and fir of different kinds, more resembling the cedar than English larch, wild fruit-trees, &c.; but the most splendid is the red rhododendron, which there grows into a tree, and is covered with immense blossoms, some a pale rose-colour and others a rich crimson. -Travelling in India, Dublin University Magazine, November.

FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS.

ANECDOTE OF A POLISH COUNT AND MOZART.

GENERALLY, the anecdotes we choose for insertion in "The Instructer" are such as, while they illustrate some characteristic principle or feature, shall, to the reader, be instructive in the way of example. Warning, however, is, in its place, as necessary as example: illustrations, therefore, of what should be avoided, as well as of what should be imitated, may be usefully presented.

Among those dispositions that should be avoided, should be placed all tendency to meanness, and dishonourable conduct.

They who observe the scriptural rule of doing justice and loving mercy, will, in their whole behaviour, combine uprightness with generosity. Their heart will be kind, and they will neither withhold what is due, nor seek, by any petty trickery, to advance their own interests at the expense of others. All meanness is selfishness, and selfishness is the root of all sin: whereas, holiness is love, expanding wherever it operates, and producing true kindness and nobility.

The anecdote we are about to record is an impressive instance of that conduct, with the true description of which we are almost unwilling to sully our pages. But things should be called by their right names. And therefore, to guard the reader against meanness and narrowness, we set before them this disgusting example of what is vulgarly, but justly, termed RASCALITY.

Mozart, it will be recollected, was a very celebrated musician, noted for sweetness as well as power. He was born at Saltzburg, in 1756, and died at Vienna, in 1791. His temper was amiable, he sympathized with his humblest brethren of the lyre, and made many sacrifices to benefit them, often consulting their interest at the hazard of his own. He experienced the usual, the too usual, consequences. A recent biographer makes the following statement:—“ A Polish Count, who was invited to a concert at Mozart's house, heard a quintet performed for the first time, with which he was so greatly delighted, that he asked Mozart to compose for him a trio on the flute. Mozart agreed, on condition that he should do it at his own time. The Count next day sent a polite note, expressive of his thanks for the pleasure which he had enjoyed, and along with it, one hundred gold demi-sovereigns (about £100 sterling). Mozart immediately sent him the original score of the quintet that had pleased him so much. The Count returned to Vienna about a year afterwards, and calling on Mozart, inquired for the trio. Mozart said that he had never found himself in a disposition to write anything worthy of his acceptance. "Perhaps, then," said the Count, "you may find yourself in a disposition to return the hundred demi-sovereigns I paid you beforehand." Mozart instantly handed him the money; but the Count said nothing about

the quintet; and the composer had to see it, soon after, published by Artaria, a music-seller at Vienna, arranged as a quartet, for the piano-forte, violin, tenor, and violoncello." A Count, indeed! Compared with such men, pickpockets would be gentlemen.

THE CRUSADES. No. II.

INTRODUCTION CONCLUDED.

THE COUNCILS OF PLACENTIA, AND CLERMONT.

(Chiefly from the French of Michaud.)

FROM the year 622, the course of Mohammedanism was for a long time a continual triumph. Very far did it spread to the eastward; and westward, (besides Palestine to the north,) Egypt was subdued, and the northern coasts of Africa overspread. In 713 Spain, under Roderic, was conquered, and the peninsular monarchy confined to a few inaccessible fastnesses in the mountains of Asturias. Compared, too, with the state of Christendom, the descendants of the Arab Bedouins occupied dominions brilliant in science, and elegant in literature. What were the dwellings of the Monarchs of Saxon Britain, when the Alhambra was erected in Spain? And when the ninth century opened, Bagdad was resplendent under the celebrated Haroun Alraschid. But the mighty flow was only as the tidal wave, which begins to recede when it has reached its height. In 732 the Saracens crossed the Pyrennees, and advanced to the plains between Tours and Poitiers; but here was the limit of Arabian advance in Western Europe. They were met and routed by Charles Martel, Maire du Palais of one of the royal shadows of France. Fifty years afterwards, Charlemagne, "with all his chivalry," was defeated by them at Roncesvalles; but yet the Christians in Spain were rapidly reviving, and many were the battles won by them. Civil wars, too, weakened the Mohammedan power. About the year 936, the once united Caliphate existed in seven independent monarchies. In 1058 Robert Guiscard drove the Moors from Sicily; and thirty years afterwards, Portugal was nearly entirely freed from them.

A temporary revival of their power, however, was occasioned by the uprise of new competitors for the sovereignty; and the

Saracens, partly enervated by the luxury attendant on longcontinued success, had to give way to the hardy but bigoted and ferocious Turks, who poured down from the table-lands of north central Asia. In 1065 they took Jerusalem, overran Palestine and Syria, invaded the eastern borders of the decaying empire of Constantinople, and with great force, though as yet unsuccessfully, several times besieged the metropolis itself. Full of vigour and enthusiasm, and of an indomitable courage, which was greatly strengthened by that entire and consistent, we had almost said, simple-hearted, belief in predestination, which was one of the most practical elements of their character, their approaching masses were beheld by Europe with an alarm which often pervaded the mightiest; chiefly influencing the German Emperor and the Pope, and which, in fact, did not subside till it became evident that Turkish power was decaying, and European energy augmenting, and the last important onslaught was driven back, in 1683, from the walls of besieged Vienna, by the Polish King, John Sobieski. But in the eleventh century, the dread of Turkish invasion and conquest was so strong, that it became one of the elements of the public policy, and general patriotism; and thus the entire mind of Europe was prepared to receive a deeper impression, and a stronger impulse, from the recital of the pilgrims from Palestine, who told the lamentable tale of the persecutions to which the oriental Christians were constantly subjected, and of the wretchedness themselves had endured, and the dangers from which they had escaped only with the greatest difficulty. Policy and patriotism became animated by religion, and a fire was already kindled, which the first stirring blast would be sure to awaken into a wide and conquering flame.

In 1087 Victor III. was elected Pope; but though the Turkish question deeply affected him, his pontificate was too short to allow him to devise any practical measure concerning it. He was succeeded, in 1088, by URBAN II., a man of farseeing, if not of very penetrating, mind; to whom belongs the glory of directing the movement in which originated the first crusade.