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There has been discovered at Songeau, | Æneid for 16,000 francs. Blair received | Tuesday, 17-Thermometer from 39 to 50.

near Bayeux, a quarry of vast extent, containing numerous masses of stone, which will answer for lithography as well as the stones of Pappenheim. A specimen has been submitted to the examination of Count de Lasteyrie, who expressed himself highly satisfied with the delicacy and cor rectness of the impression produced from these newly discovered stones.

"I have the pleasure to inform you that I have just completed a Spanish translation of the interesting Manual of the Bell and Lancaster System, which I intend to lay before the King, in order to obtain permission to print it. The Marquess de P. is so enthusiastic in his admiration of the work, that he has offered to defray the ex

...

penses of printing in order to distribute the copies gratis.'

་་

Barometer from 29, 90 to 30, 19. Wind W. by N. and W. by S. 1.-The sun rose clear; but soon became clouded with various

clouds, and continued so through the day, with Rain fallen, 025 of an inch.

a little sunshine at times.

Wednesday, 18-Thermometer from 39 to 52.

Barometer from 30 26, to 30, 19. Wind S.W. 1.-Various clouds, which dispersed in the afternoon, and the sun shone at times: evening quite overcast.

day. For a diverting account of these animals, Turned my land-tortoise into the garden tosee the Remarks of White of Selbourne.

He does not Edmonton, Middlesex.

66 we have his Discourse Mr.W.Carey has nearly ready for press his
Biographical Sketch of B. R. Hayden, Esq.
the historical painter, with critical obser-
Ivations on his pictures, and some notice of
his essays in the public journals.

Latitude 51.37.32. N.
Longitude 3. 51. W.
JOHN ADAMS.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. An article on the subject of the CoryRIGHT ACTS in our next.-Communications UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, and on the system on the important subject of PASIGRAPHY, or of instructing the Blind, are also in a forward state.

J. G. hints to us that we have omitted to

46,000 francs for a single volume of sermons; and Beaumarchais purchased for 200,000 francs the posthumous manuscripts of Voltaire. The value of Madame de Stael's manuscript is increased by her name, her reputation, and the supposition that she will reveal many important secrets. We have reason to fear, that the hopes of the curious will be in some measure defeated. Those who have examined the It is generally believed that the lower manuscript, are of opinion that M. Necker classes of people in Spain are more igno- is too frequently mentioned. All that can rant than any in Europe. There is, how-be said respecting that minister has already ever, reason to hope that the subjects of been submitted to the public. Some have that country will shortly enjoy the benefits extolled him to the skies, others have overof the mode of instruction so successfully whelmed him with censure. adopted in England and France. A letter deserve to be treated in either way; by from a Spanish officer of distinguished rank doing too much for one party, and too little contains the following:to all: he retains only a limited number of for the other, he rendered himself obnoxious partisans, who look upon him as an extrasents him in this latter point of view; she ordinary being. Madame de Stael reprepraises him to satiety; and that portion of the most wearisome and least curious of the new work which relates to M. Necker is the whole. The manuscript was submitted to the examination of the police before it notice Mr. Coleridge's Lectures, instead of was sent to the press: some retrenchments giving a weekly Analysis of them. By a A Provincial went lately to a bookseller's have been made, and some passages al-paragraph among the " Varieties" in our shop in Paris, and enquired for M. de B-'stered; but, such as it is, it well deserves No. 59, the Writer may observe to what last work. Which of them do you want," "public attention. an extent such a practice would carry us, said the bookseller, and that we are absolutely compelled by our limits to confine such subjects to occasional remarks. It may also surprise our friendly Correspondent, to learn, that though this Journal is so entirely literary, and possesses so extensive a literary circulation, its conductors have not even had a Prospectus of Mr. Coleridge's course sent to them, nor any intimation of his proceedings beyond what has appeared in some of the daily Newspapers. Persons connected with Literature and the Arts, Authors, Booksellers, Painters, Engravers, &c. hare, as long as we remember, complained of the inattention of the periodical Press to their productions— we can now tell them, that it is often their own faults. They want to be sought out to an extent which would defy the labours of a hundred Editors, and when they fail of attracting regard, as some must, they call that the neglect of the Press, which is owing to most enlarged and liberal sphere—our cirtheir own negligence. Our plan is on the culation eminently entitles us to every mark of consideration from the classes we have alluded to—and, though we are restrained from saying more for fear of being misconstrued, as courting support which, thanks to the Public, we do not need, we may state, that in so far as the Literary Gazette is concerned, we have not found these parties (we acknowledge a multitude of exceptions) so forward as they ought to have been in reciprocal attentions. Now, indeed, (Post bellum auxilium) they fall into the train, and swell the tide of success; but the victory of raising this Journal has been won with less of their aid than was due to their own interests.

and his Thoughts.' Are they not then
the same?' Certainly not, Sir." In
that case,' replied the Countryman,
will neither buy the one nor the other;
don't like this difference between what one
thinks and what one says!'

The new King of Sweden is a Gascon, of whom there are as many jests told as of the Irish with us. The following are specimens: A Gascon said, "I have so warlike an air, that when I look into a glass I am afraid of myself!"-Another Gascon, whose valet was putting on his cuirass for battle one day, said to him, "Put that on behind, for my heart whispers that I shall run away to-day."-A third, who used to boast of his courage, did actually fly from the field; a Liegeois asked him where was his bravery? "In

my leg," answered the hero.-A messenger came to a Gascon in the middle of the night, to inform him of the death of his father; "Ah, me!" said he, "how dreadfully afflicted shall I be when I awake tomorrow morning!"

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

Mr. Carey has also collected materials for a life of the late unfortunate engraver, John Summerfield, a pupil of Bartolozzi, with a critical review of his works.

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.

MARCH.

Thursday, 12-Thermometer from 30 to 44.
Barometer from 29, 02 to 29, 19.
Wind S. W. and W. 2.-A smart fall of snow

in the morning, enough to cover the ground.
Generally clear: sleet in the afternoon.

Rain fallen, 275 of an inch.
Friday, 13-Thermometer from 32 to 42.

Barometer from 29, 46 to 29, 90.

the rest of the day generally clear.
Wind N. and N. by W. 1-Morning cloudy;

Rain fallen, 025 of an inch.

Saturday, 14-Thermometer from 30 to 47.

Barometer from 30, 05 to 29, 99. Wind S. W. Morning and noon clear: rain in the afternoon and evening: a large halo round the moon, its radius 23 degrees. Ice on puddles this morning.

Rain fallen, 05 of an inch.

The following statement is contained in Sunday, 15-Thermometer from 34 to 46.

a Paris Journal:

Madame de Stael's work on the French Revolution will shortly appear; it forms three volumes, and 36,000 francs have been paid for the manuscript: this has been thought an extraordinary price. Delille, who derived more profit from his productions than any modern author, sold the

Barometer from 29, 72 to 29, 43.

Wind S. by E. -A wet, unpleasant, dull day.
Rain fallen, 075 of an inch.
Monday, 16-Thermometer from 32 to 46.

Barometer from 29, 54 to 29, 86.
Wind S. W. and W. by N. 1.-Morning and
noon cloudy, with a little rain and hail: after-
noon pleasant sunshine; evening clear,

Rain fallen, 05 of an inch.

BENSLEY and SONS, Bolt Court, Fleet Street,

AND

Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Politics, etc.

No. 62.

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1818.

Letters from the Abbe Edgeworth to his Friends, written between the years 1777 and 1807: with Memoirs of his Life, &c. By the Rev. Thomas R. England. pp. 222.

This is an extremely valuable little

work. The fate of the benevolent

Abbe Edgeworth linked him so closely these times, that he becomes identified with them in history, and acquires a claim to attention, in addition to those

with the most illustrious victims of

which his own excellence would have secured. To be the intrepid attendant of his king to the scaffold, the utterer of that sublime apostrophe, Son of Saint Louis, ascend to Heaven! the proscribed

and persecuted apostle of the French church, the friend of royalty in exile

and distress, form a combination of circumstances in the life of one man, rare in interest and importance, and calculated at once to excite and gratify the intensest feelings.

PRICE 1s.

of Dr. Moylan, (afterwards Catholic blood hounds of the Revolution sought Bishop of Cork, with whom he formed to add the Abbe Edgeworth to his murat this time a friendship which only dered brethren. He, however, escaped closed with life,) sent to Paris to com- all their toils; and when the execution plete his education; whither also the of the amiable Princess dissolved all his rest of his family went. Here he at- ties with France, he, in 1796, retreated tended the philosophical lectures at the to the security of Great Britain. It is colleges of Navarre and the Sorbonne; much to be lamented, that domiciliary and being called to Priest's orders re-visits, and the hunting of his persecumoved to the Seminary of Les Missions tors, obliged him to destroy the corresEtrangeres, Rue de Bacq. From the pondence with which he was entrusted; performance of his humble and useful but so it was, and even with this preduties in this station, he was selected to caution his danger was so imminent, a more elevated post as the spiritual that his safety appears miraculous. The guide of Madame Elizabeth, the King's letters were conveyed by means of balls sister, to whom his attachment appears of silk or cotton, and related to affairs to have been unbounded. Thus ren- of the utmost consequence. A letter dated London, 1st Sept. 1796, from the Abbe to his brother Usher in Dublin, gives a brief and simple, but highly pathetic detail of his past career. application of Louis the XVIth, for peculiarly affecting, and we copy a part his aid to smooth the path to death is of it.

The

dered a near and observant spectator of
the revolution, his earlier letters to Dr.
Moylan in this volume, relate to the
demoralizing progress of that calamity
which nearly destroyed religion and
their room atheism and anarchy. As
government together, substituting in
the state of the Church is most fre-
quently touched upon, the particulars The message he sent was moving beyond
of its subversion are curious and in-expression, and worded in a manner which
structive. Politics are not often intro-I never shall forget. A king, though in
duced, but where they are, we have the
writer's authority, and it is not a mean
one, for thinking that there could be
no peace in Europe co-existent with
the new doctrines of France.

chains, had a right to command;-but he commanded not. My attendance was requested, merely as a pledge of my affection for him-as a favour which he hoped I would not refuse: but, as the service was likely to be attended with some danger for me, he dared not insist, and only prayed (in case I deemed the danger too great) to point out to him a Clergyman worthy of his confidence, but less known than I was myself; leaving the person absolutely to my

Henry Essex Edgeworth, generally known as the Abbe Edgeworth, was born at Edgworth's Town, in Ireland, some time in the year 1745. The family from which he descended has been resident in that country since the year 1582, and is one of those .with the mention of whose name is associated much of the literary and scientific It is evidently his interest (says he in a improvement of the British empire. Ro-letter, 21st of March 1792, speaking of the bert, the father of the Abbe, was a clergy policy likely to be followed by the Empeman of the established church, and for some years rector of Edgeworth's-town, in or, to make good all the promises of his father;) for, considering the great zeal of the county of Longford: he was married to Miss Usher, sister of the elegant author of our new Apostles, he cannot expect to enjoy Clio on Taste, and the Freethinker's Let-peace in his own dominions, if the spirit of ters, and grand-daugher of the Archbishop France is not effectually repressed. now prevails in of that name, so celebrated for antiquarian research and religious controversy. Three The views of the writer about this years after the Abbe's birth, his father re-period indeed seem to be almost pro-master :-" a prince," as he declares, signed the living which he held in the esta-phetic. In November of the same year blished church, and professed himself a he thus writes :—

convert to the Roman Catholic creed.

His wife, and her brother, already -mentioned, abjured their faith about the same time; and in 1749 the family of the Abbe settled in Toulouse, where he was educated for the service of the Church, whose principles his father had embraced, and of which he was himself afterwards so distinguished an orna

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insubordination which

I am almost the only man I know of, who dare raise up his head, and hope for happier I foresee! for the astonishing success of times. May Providence bring about what our armies must be either a miracle wrought in their favour, or a snare into which they give; and for my part I see much less probability for the miracle than for the snare.

Having carried on a correspondence with Madame Elizabeth in the Temple, besides being guilty of the crime of cheering the last moments of her brother's life, it is no wonder that the

choice.

In the face of almost certain death

the amiable and heroic Abbe himself accepted the office, and at the foot of the guillotine rendered the last consolations of religion to his martyred

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"who, with every virtue, had but one fault, that of thinking too well of others, whilst he refused common justice to himself. Such was the moassassins reddened, to the eternal disnarch in whose blood the axe of the grace of France." Of this inhuman scene, the Abbe witnesses;—

All that I can say is, that as soon as the fatal blow was given, I fell upon my knees, who acted the principal part in this horrid and thus remained until the vile wretch, tragedy, came with shouts of joy, shewing the bleeding head to the mob, and sprinkling me with the blood that streamed from

it. Then, indeed, I thought it time to quit | prince, especially, needs only to be kept in
the scaffold; but, casting my eyes round proper bounds; for he would go too far if
about, I saw myself invested by twenty or left to himself. The three lead a most so-
thirty thousand men in arms; and to pierce litary life; and, though in a town of dissi-
the crowd, seemed to me to be a foolish pation and pleasure, far beyond any other
attempt. However, as I must take that have seen in my travels, they partake of
party, or, by remaining, appear to share the none. A few visits received (for they do
public joy, my only resource was to recom- not pay any) and those very short, a
mend myself to Providence, and steer my jaunt in their carriage when the weather is
course towards the side on which the ranks fine, or a solitary walk on foot, are the
seemed to have less depth. All eyes were only distraction they allow to their melan-
fixed on me, as you may suppose; but as choly thoughts.
soon as I reached the first line, to my great
surprise, no resistance was made the se-

cond line opened in the same manner; and when I got to the fourth or fifth, my coat being a common surtout, (for I was not permitted, on this occasion, to wear any exterior marks of a Priest,) I was absolutely lost in the crowd, and no more noticed than if I had been a simple spectator of a scene which for ever will dishonour France.

Traced from retreat to retreat, the Abbe at length found concealment at Bayeaux in Normandy, where he lived during the last eighteen months he passed in France, with a tried friend, the Baron de Lezardier, who, with his youngest son and three daughters, also found refuge here-the rest of his family being massacred by the jacobius. At length, when Madame Elizabeth was put to death, the Abbe, as we have noticed, fled to England, and soon joined the fugitive royal family at Edinburgh. He next entered into the family and service of the present King, at Mittau, in Courland, and approved himself a good and faithful servant. His letters from Mittan constitute a very affecting portion of the work, and his prescience will be acknowledged when we cite a passage from a letter written nearly eighteen years ago :

By all accounts, parties still run high in France; and it is likely that we shall see more than one convulsion there before order is restored. But I am confident that the French will sooner or later return to their former masters, though it be impossible at present to say by what means, or when.-

His description of the Royal Race, then tried so severely by adversity, is worthy of regard. He says,

Nor was the Abbe himself spared his worldly troubles. The friend in whose hands the purchase-money of his paternal estate had been left at interest, became bankrupt, and plunged him into poverty. This affliction he bore like a man and a Christian, and in the hour of distress applied to Mr. Pitt for a pension, which had been generously offered before when he escaped from France, and honourably refused, as this worthy person did not then stand in need of pecuniary aid. This application was most handsomely and feelingly granted. The other most memorable event in the life of Mr. Edgeworth, was his being sent in 1800 to St. Petersburgh, to confer the order of St. Loui on the Emperor Paul. His reception was such as his virtues merited.

father; and our affliction is shared by all the inhabitants of Mittau. All classes and all sects united at his funeral, and universal lamentation accompanied him to his last home.

May this recital soften your sorrow! May I thus give to the memory of this most respectable of men, a new proof of my veneration and attachment.

Be assured, Sir, of my good wishes for you, and for all the family of the Abbe Edgeworth. Lovis.

ASTARTE, a Sicilian Tale; with other Poems. By the Author of Melancholy Hours. pp. 173. Readers, who read at their ease, little know the trials and sorrows to which poor critics are exposed; and it is marvellous to us that, as all our tribe are writers by profession, no one has been found to sing our laments, in the same way as the hardships of soldiers, and sailors, and lovers, and captives, and other sufferers, have been bemused. Till some such hard arises, we shall simply content ourselves with putting in a claim to consideration: we do not aim at a public subscription, the fashionable remedy for all grievances, but a certain degree of favour to cheer us on our way, beset as it is by many tempAs we have devoted so considerable a tations, environed by threats and seportion of our limits to this publica-ductions, worse be-devilled than ever tion, we shall now conclude with ob- St. Anthony was, with foul forms and serving, that the death of this good fair; in short, the very path which of Priest was worthy of his life. He fell all paths is the most difficult to keep in a victim to his care of the sick on the straight-forwardness and undeviating 22d of May 1807. The King of France impartiality. announced the melancholy tidings to his brother, in a letter which does credit to his head and heart; and with a translation of which we close this review, again recommending the book, whence it is taken, to the attention of the public.

Louis XIII. to Mr. Usher Edgeworth.

SIR,

The author of these poems is a young lady, not two-and-twenty. We could could git as grand inquisitors in Spain, no more be severe upon her, than we where the holy tribunal is happily reestablished, to condemn a beautiful young she-heretie to the flames, for doubting the infallibility of Pope Joan. Yet we must be a little justish. Astarte is an imitation of Lord Byron, and is a pretty poem. Attaching the used, it is scarcely necessary to add, received meaning to the epithet we have that it wants the noble poet's grasp of soul, and fierce and fiery touches, which seize and toss the heart as with a tem

pest.

The letter which the Archbishop of Rheims wrote to you, has informed you You will regret the best and tenderest of of the melancholy loss we have sustained. brothers. I weep for a friend, a comforter, a benefactor, who guided the King, my The King is not only a believer, but, to brother, on his way to heaven, and pointed the whole extent of the word, a truly reli- out the same path to me. The world did gious prince, endowed with every virtue not deserve to possess him any longer. Let that makes the saint, and with a capacity us submit to this stroke, in reflecting that Adelmorn, the favoured lover of far superior to what I have met with in any he is gone to receive the reward due to his Astarte, has become a pirate, and meets other man upon earth. Unfortunately, he virtues; but as we are not forbidden to re- her on the sea-shore on the night preis, as to body, of a most corpulent disposi-ceive the condolence of beings of an infe- vious to her marriage with Herman. tion, which renders him less fit than he rior order, I offer you mine, in the midst of He promises to rescue her the next would otherwise be, for the arduous task of the general affliction caused by this misforrestoring matters in France. His Nephew tune. Yes, Sir, the death of your brother day, but, owing to a storm, arrives and Niece, inferior to him in point of in- has been a public calamity. My family, too late. Attacked and defeated on the struction and talents, are at least his equals and all the loyal French by whom I am sur-strand, he struggles up to his mistress' as to piety and religion. The young rounded, feel as I do—as if we had lost our tower and breathes his last, and she

dies of a broken heart. His address to
induce her to elope with him, is far too
long for the poem, but it is stated in
the preface to be a fragment, and con-
sequently we may excuse a want of
proportion in the parts. We select as
a specimen of the verse, which is very
irregular, the description of Astarte's
decline.

She fell, as falls a lovely flower,
Blighted in the very spring
Of beauty and of blossoming,

By the red lightning's scorching power;
It droops upon the blasted spray,

And withers leaf by leaf in slow but sure decay;
But tho' the Spoiler's hand hath o'er it past,
Its buds retain their sweets and fragrance to the
last.

As falling stars, ere they expire,
Emit a brighter, clearer fire-

So beauty's loveliest, softest smile
Illumed her fading eyes the while.

From those orbs thro' the veil of death would

break

Flashes of wild, yet dazzling lightness,
(As the silver mist hangs on the moon-light lake,
That still flows on in native brightness.)
And oft Death's fever'd fingers threw
The young carnation's hectic hue
O'er her soft cheek's transparent whiteness.
That lovely, but deceiving flush,

Which lends decay a faithless bloom;
And looks like beauty's purest blush,
While 'tis the herald of the tomb.
She faded sweetly from the sight,
And gently stole from life away,
As melts the rainbow into light
At close of summer's stormy day.

There are a good many minor poems of various merit. One only we cannot approve,—the valedictory stanzas, by a lady on the eve of her nuptials. Ladies who love other men so much as is here set down, ought not to deceive any miserable dog by giving a hand where the heart is estranged. We fear our fair writer has let a little too much of

female secrets out here.

Soon, soon the pangs that rend this breast,

My aching heart must learn to hide, Love; Soon must this face in smiles be drest,

For I shall be another's bride, Love. Yes! I must learn to school my heart,

Whene'er thy passing form I see, Love; Yes! I must feign,-detested art!

Indiff'rence,-nay, dislike to thee, Love. If such sentiments as these on the eve of nuptials, do not lead to Doctors' Commons, as straight as Ludgate Hill does from Temple Bar, we know not what will. The following stanzas are

of a better order.

Weep not for the fallen Brave,

Maiden with dishevelled hair! Sleeps he not in Honour's grave? Who would not his glory share? Died he not the Warrior's death? (So should heroes wish to die ;) Heaved he not his parting breath In the arms of Victory?

Maiden, check the flowing tear,
Calm thy bosom's rising sighs,
Since on Valour's laurel'd bier,
Envied thus, thy Soldier lies.
Mourn not o'er his early grave,

Nor thy golden tresses tear;
Died he not as die the Brave?

Who would not such glory share!

A Serenade is also deserving of favourable notice; but we have devoted so much of our space to this publication, as to forbid further extract.

The their

sole clothing of the mass of the people, and
gourds are substitutes for glass bottles, or
earthen mugs. The women too approach
nearer to a state of nudity; their sole
clothing being a narrow apron (the breadth
of the hand and 18 inches long) before and
behind. From every town near to which
we passed, they flocked out to look at the
white men (moudele,) and without any
marks of timidity came and shook hands
with us. To the best looking, and the best
dressed, I distributed some beads. The
price paid here, by a native, for a wife of
the first class, the Chenoo's daughter for
instance, is four pieces of baft, one piece of
guinea, and a certain quantity of palm wine.
We in no instance since we left Embomma
found the men allant en avant in their offer
of their women; but this our Bomma men
told us was from their little intercourse
with Europeans, for that any of them would
think themselves honoured by surrendering
his wife or daughter to a white man.
to be ex-
The population seems

VOYAGE TO THE CONGO. (Captain Tuckey's Narrative continued.) On the 17th of August our jaded travellers took leave of the Chenoo of Cooloo, and carrying Mr. Tudor in a litter, reached the boats at noon. scarcity of water and provision on excursion was aggravated by a similar scarcity of palm wine, the most re-tremely thin. The largest banza, Coofreshing and grateful beverage, which loo, does not contain above 300 souls, two years of drought had occasioned, of whom two thirds are women and though every banza and gentleman's children. Except a few fishermen on town has from 20 to 200 of these trees the rocks at the river side, they are all The soil is caabout it. The natives stated, that collected into villages. every third or fourth year was rainy, pable of supporting a great increase. and then the river rese higher than Of the state of Congo the following during the intermediate period. The particulars are given :banks, so far as the Expedition proceeded, do not offer one tree capable of making a beam or timber for a sloop of war.

The only trees that grow to a large size are the Adansonia and the Bombax (or Wild Cotton,) and the wood of both is spongy and useless; several varieties of evergreens, highly ornamental in their growth and foliage, are however met with

in the vallies.

The only appearance of metals is in the ferruginous clay and stones near the river, which the natives grind, and from these form their pots for boiling (their only cooking utensils ;) these small stones rounded to the size of a pea, serve them for small shot. Small particles of copper were observed by Dr. Smith in some of the specimens of minerals he collected.

a

The fish at this height were in general small, and not numerous. Only one large one, apparently of the genus Murena, was caught; and the testaceous species were so rare, that but single shell (Helix) was found on the summit of one of the hills near a fishing hut, and but one oyster was dredged up. On the banks were seen snares for taking beach birds; they consisted of a twig, with a bit of line and noose which caught the bird's neck.

The higher we proceed (says Capt. T.) the fewer European articles the natives possess; the country grass generally forms the

According to our informers, the dominions of Congo extend from below Malemba, cutting the coast and river to Banza N'Inga; but how far they extend to the south of the river's mouth, or up it on the south side, we could not learn, but it seems to be considerably higher up the river than Inga. The paramount sovereign is named Lindy, or Blindy N'Congo, and resides at Banza Congo, six days journey in the interior from Tall Trees (on the south side of

the river;) it has no water communication with the Zaire. Here the Portuguese appear to have a fixed settlement, the natives speaking of their having soldiers and white women." The opposite sides of the river, form two vice-royalties, that on the north being governed by the N' Sandy N' Congo, and the south by N' Cucula Congo, both of whom reside at banzas in the interior. The Chenooships, improperly named kingdoms by Europeans, are hereditary fiefs, passing in the female line; that is, on the decease of the Chenoo, the succession, instead of passing to his son, goes to his brother, or uterine uncle or cousin. On every demise a fresh investiture takes place by the Viceroy's sending a cap (here the mark of all dignity) to the appointed successor; but though it is necessary that the succession should be continued in the family, the Viceroy is not restricted to nearness of kin or primogeniture, but as favour, corruption, or intrigue, operates strongest, the investiture is given. The Chenoo, in his turn, appoints several inferior officers by sending them caps, particularly the Mafook, or Custom-Master, who interferes in

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