not political-that in fact the two gentlemen above-named were not regularly deputed diplomatic agents of the English government, sent thither with a view to aid and advise them in their unequal contest. The consequence was that they were both treated en prince by the whole nation-the example being set by all the leading princes and chiefs of it; and their sojourn in the country was made a sort of triumph, in which the national character was displayed in all its lights, good as well as ill, but all full of interest and curiosity as matters of observation. When we add that the writer of these volumes is a person in every way adapted, both by natural and acquired qualities, to turn such a position to the most valuable account, we need not say that the result, as it is here placed before us, is one of the most interesting and valuable works of the kind that we have had for years. A few extracts will convey an adequate notion of the style as well as the matter of these most entertaining volumes. "Circassian Dinner.-After we had been some time seated, a large bowl of a beverage the Tartars call boza (in Circassian, sonat) was presented to me by my host; it is a mixture of fermented millet-seed and honey, thick and slab,' and exceedingly nauseous, I thought, though drinking it out of complaisance to my entertainer, who watched me closely, to see that I did not flinch, and during the evening renewed the charge, bowl in hand, at least a dozen times. Dinner, or, more properly speaking, supper, which constitutes their chief meal, was served after sunset. It consisted of a series of dishes, removed one after the other, on round, three-legged tables, about the size of a joint-stool. A sheep having been slaughtered for us, the mutton was served on a thick layer of millet-cake, instead of a dish; being moist and soft, it is easily moulded into the requisite form-that is, with a deep trench in the centre, containing the sauce, or condiment, defended by a circular mound, itself invested on the outside by substantial pieces of mutton or beef. The Hadji and myself commenced the attack on these fortifications, having been provided for the purpose with small knives by the Circassians, who, by-the-by, always wear these, in addition to their daggers, in their girdles. The latter are never used at meals, the former being for the double purpose of carving their victuals and shaving their polls. After meat came the broth, served up in a wooden bowl, or rather a reservoir, of formidable dimensions; its surface frozen over like the Arctic Ocean, not with ice, however, but grease; but by inserting, in imitation of my Hadji, the spoon (and, par parenthèse, I must protest in the name of my friends against the statement put forth, that they ever insert their hands), with a dexterous jerk, into the liquid below, I found I could convey it to my mouth in a tolerable state of purity. The ensuing courses were, for the most part, composed of pastry, caimac, or cream, cheesecakes, forced meat in vineleaves, and finally a large bowl of yoghort, or curdled milk, which last, like the pilaff in Turkey, invariably crowns the repast. I was at first surprised to see no vegetables on the table, but I afterwards learned that although abounding in the country in every variety, the Circassians seldom or never eat them. A native of this country dining with Scodra Pasha, in Albania, and declining to eat the vegetable which the Turks, odd to say, are as fond of as the Circassians are averse to and which, in successive dishes, formed, on this occasion, the staple of the dinner, was pressed repeatedly by the latter to partake of them. He at length told the Pasha, with much naïveté, that none but beasts dine on greens in Circassia." "A Circassian Beauty.-The daughter, Hafiza, was a lively, pretty girl of sixteen or seventeen, looking rather demure, as is necessary on a first interview, but by no means ill-natured; indeed, she had no cause to be so, aware, as she must have been, that no girl in the neighbourhood could bide a closer scrutiny, or command a better price, than herself-in short, though far from realizing the beau ideal we should form of sublime and beautiful, yet, as things go in that country, every way entitled to rank as a Circassian beauty. She had regular and pretty features, blue eyes, and fair complexion; her hair was of a light auburn colour, and hung in a profusion of braided tresses over her shoulders, from a bonnet of scarlet cloth, trimmed and crossed with broad silver lace, not unlike the Albanian skull-cap. She was tall, and well, though slightly, shaped; and held herself, like all Circassians, men or women, very erect. With the latter, the effect produced by their tightly compressing their loins from infancy is even somewhat ungraceful, giving a certain protusion to the body behind and before, and a stiffness, particularly in walking, to their carriage. Her costume, being that of all Circassian maidens, consisted of the bonnet of scarlet cloth I have described, a bodice of blue silk, with a row of silver studs in front, a girdle, fastened very low by large silver clasps in the shape of shells, and beneath her anteri of striped silk, the loose Turkish trousers, or shalvar; from these there peeped a pair of white and delicate feet, which, in the house, it is the fashion to leave uncovered, but, to go out of doors, they put on ornamented pattens or morocco slippers." "A travelling party in Circassia.-Our cavalcade, which issued from the yard of our konag amidst the cries of 'Ogmaf! ogmaf!' (Farewell! farewell!) from the assembled neighbourhood, presented a train as motley and picturesque almost as that of the pilgrims to Canterbury. Foremost of all, borne by my Greek, whom I had constituted my beiraktar, or standard-bearer, fluttered in the morning breeze the white arrows and stars on the field of green silk, already familiar, I presume, to the English public as the national banner of Circassia The standard-bearer himself, with his dashing dress of the Islands; the embroidered jacket and redundant trousers; his gallant bearing and military glee at finding himself once more on a war-saddle, formed no contemptible figure-head to the procession. After him came Alcide Bey (the metamorphosed writer of these volumes), having Islam Gheri Indar Oglou on his right, and his rogue of a Hadji on his left. The former with the bow, quiver, and costume, the gentle and dignified demeanour I have already described; the latter jogging along in the high turban, antery, and shalvar of the Turk, as fidgety and talkative as my other companion was grave and sedate. As for myself, the dress I wore was like my sentiments, at that time in a state of transition; nor had I yet renounced my European surtout, or all my European prejudices. The costume of the rest of my train, composed of my servants and escort, exhibited much the same variety.' The following statement conveys a striking impression of the determination of the Circassians as to the struggle in which they are engaged, especially as Mansour Bey (the chief named in the extract) is elsewhere described by Mr. Longworth as a person as distinguished for his honour and veracity as for his extraordinary courage and prowess, and is the most influential leader in the country. "I had deemed it important that, at a moment when Russia was straining every nerve for their subjugation, and when, without such encouragement, their hearts might have failed them, that they also should participate in those hopes. It was with that view that I had come amongst them, and, concurrently with Mr. Bell, I now pledged myself to remain till time, which I trusted would be short, should prove whether or no they had been well founded. That they might, in some measure, judge how far my statements were deserving of credit, I volunteered to accompany them to battle, and, though but a raw warrior, promised to shrink from no danger that might put my zeal in their cause to the test. That cause was the sacred one of liberty, as dear to Englishmen as to themselves, and for which, if necessary, they were as willing to lay down their lives. Mansour now briefly conferred with his countrymen, and, judging from their smiling looks, and the frequent repetition of the word ariva, expressive of approbation, the impression so far produced on them seemed decidedly favourable. He then resumed his discourse. ، It is not our custom, he said, “to expose the lives of our guests, particularly when so valuable to us as yours, in fighting our battles ; we are ourselves bound to defend them against every molestation. Be under no alarm on our account; we have warred with the Muscovite ten years at least, and if England in the end befriend us, will war ten years longer. We have lost, indeed, many of our bravest warriors, but, as you may see,' he continued, casting a glance round the assembly, where many a scarred and perforated visage bore witness to his words, we have men and lads to replace them yet. The worst of it is, our rifles are become nearly useless to us for want of powder and lead; yet, while we have swords to wield against them, will we never surrender to the Ghiaours. If deserted by the whole world, if driven to the last extremity, it will then be seen what the Adijhens are capable of. We will slaughter with our own hands our wives and our children, that they may not fall into those of the infidel; we will then perish to a man in avenging them." The numerous pictures which these volumes furnish of the social economy of this singular and primitive people can scarcely be surpassed for interest and curiosity. The volumes are in fact as entertaining as a novel, and they are evidently written with a strict regard to that true detail of facts which makes them as instructive as an official report. COMIC MISCELLANIES OF THE LATE JAMES SMITH.* Vive la bagatelle! Such was evidently the motto, and such might (without violating the spirit of the dead) be the monumental inscription of the late admirable humorist and accomplished wit who, during his brilliant and happy life, was so universally known as "one of the authors of the Rejected Addresses.' " He has now, unfortunately for his personal friends, ceased for ever to "set the table in a roar" in propriâ personâ. But there is no evil without its attendant good. While James Smith lived, his own modest estimate of his merits would ever have prevented this gathering together, and reprinting of his published comicalities; lavishly as he consented to scatter them about during his lifetime, and unaffected and ample as his satisfaction must have been at seeing the effect they produced, whether dropped at random from his everready tongue, or struck off impromptu with his facile and felicitous pen, he would have doubted the result of sending them forth in volumes. It would have seemed to his fastidious taste like claiming the attention of his audience too much to himself-like setting up as a sort of comic Coleridge, and trying to have all the fun to himself. But when a man lof wit or of wisdom has passed from the scene which he has long enivened and enlightened, the case is wholly different. Then those whom he leaves behind, desire nothing better than that his representatives should build him up a monument made out of the materials created by himself; and those who were most familiar with his wit, and knew all his wisdom by heart, take the most delight in conning it over again: while, to a large proportion of the rest of the world-and especially to the new generation, who are the best able to enjoy and appreciate him— nine-tenths of the hitherto-scattered treasure is as perfectly new as if Memoirs, Letters, Comic Miscellanies, &c. of the late James Smith, Esq. Edited by his Brother, Horace Smith. 2 vols. it had just been dug from the mine. Such at all events will be the case with the Comic Miscellanies of James Smith: fugitive and ephemeral as many of them were-purely and expressly the "Cynthias of the minute" that called them into life-we are by no means sure that, to the large majority of readers to whom they will now be made known for the first time, they will not be the more, rather than the less, acceptable on that account; as, in addition to the irresistible spirit of fun and drollery which pervades them all, they will, in many instances, recall to some, and convey to others, a large number of the most noticeable events and social features of the last twenty or thirty years. For example: doggerel as the following verses were intended to be, they must have been excessively droll to the first readers of them five-and-twenty years ago; but we cannot help thinking that the innumerable allusions in them which have now become historical, will give them a double value in the present day. It is part of a copy of verses entitled THE NEWSPAPER. "CURES for chilblains, corns, and bunnions, Young man absent from his own house, Pall-Mall, Allen, chairs and tables, Duke of Angouleme, despatches, Thatch'd-house tavern, glees and catches; Coburg, wonderful attraction, Plunket, playhouse, Orange faction, Consols eighty and a fraction. Sales of sail-cloth, silk and camlet, Kemble's statue, Hone's petition; Wapping Dock choke full of barter, Lamp, Sir Humphrey, noxious vapour, Stocks- -sum-total-Morning Paper."-Vol. i., pp. 224, 225. Some, on the other hand, are as applicable to the present moment as to that at and for which they were written; for there are perennial follies, and fopperies, and quackeries, as well as annual ones. Change, for example, the title of the following stanzas, from "Doctor Gall" to "Mr. Deville," and they might have been written yesterday. "I sing of the organs and fibres That ramble about in the brains; Or stay and be wise for your pains. The passions, or active or passive, Are seen in their separate cells. Old Momus who wanted a casement There's an organ for strains amoroso, An organ for boxers, for stoics, For giving booksellers a lift, For marching the zigzag heroics, And editing Jonathan Swift, &c."-Vol. i., pp. 231,232. We must not indulge in further quotations from these infinitely amusing volumes, especially as the pages of the New Monthly Magazine were the honoured medium through which by far the greater portion of Mr. James Smith's Comic Miscellanies first saw the light. But we may add, in regard to that part of the matter which is here reprinted, that it fully bears out the high reputation which their author |