infult, is inftantly punished by blows guefts, the facred engagement of of the kandjur or the mufket; while bread and falt, no fubfequent event among the inhabitants of the towns, can make them violate it: various it only excites injurious retorts. This inftances of this are related, which delicacy has occafioned in their man- do honour to their character. A few ners and difcourfe, a referve, or, years ago, an Aga of the Janifif you will, a politenefs, which one faries, having been engaged in a is aftonished to discover among pea- rebellion, fled from Damafcus, and fants. It is carried even to dif- retired among the Druzes. The fimulation and falsehood, especially Pacha was informed of this, and among the chiefs, whofe greater in- demanded him of the Emir, threatterefts demand greater attentions. ening to make war on him in cafe Circumfpection is neceffary to all, of refufal. The Emir demanded from the formidable confequences him of the Shaik Talhouk, who had of that retaliation of which I have received him; but the indignant Spoken. Thefe cuftoms may appear Shaik replied, "When have you barbarous to us; but they have the "known the Druzes deliver up merit of fupplying the deficiency of "their guefts? Tell the Emir, regular juftice, which is neceffarily that, as long as Talhouk fhall tedious and uncertain in thefe difor-"preferve his beard, not a hair of derly and almost anarchical govern. ments. The Druzes have another point of honour that of hofpitality. Whoever prefents himself at their door in the quality of a fuppliant or paffenger, is fure of being entertained with lodging and food, in the moft generous and unaffected manner. I 'have often feen the lowest peafants give the last morfel of bread they had in their houfes to the hungry traveller; and when I obferved to them that they wanted prudence, their answer was: "God is liberal "and great, and all men are bre"thren." There are, therefore, no inns in this country, any more than in the rest of Turkey. When they have once contracted with their "the head of his fuppliant shall "fall!" The Emir threatened him with force; Talhouk armed his family. The Emir, dreading a revolt, adopted a method practifed as juridical in that country. He declared to the Shaik, that he would cut down fifty mulberry-trees a day, until he fhould give up the Aga, He proceeded as far as a thoufand, and Talhouk ftill remained inflexible. At length, the other Shaiks, enraged, took up the quarrel, and the commotion was about to become general, when the Aga, reproaching himself with being the caufe of fo much mifchief, made his escape, without the knowledge even of Talhouk *. The Druzes have alfo the prejudices * I have found in an Arabic manufcript, another anecdote, which, though foreign to my present fubject, I think too excellent to be omitted. "In the time of the Califs," fays the author, "when Abdalah, the fbedder "of blood, had murdered every defcendant of Ommiah within his reach, one of that family, named Ibrahim, the fon of Soliman, fon of Abd-el-Malek, had "the good fortune to escape, and reach Koufa, which he entered in difguife. "Knowing no perfon in whom he could confide, he fat down under the portico of "a large judices of the Bedouins refpecting birth; like them, they pay great refpect to the antiquity of families; but this produces no effential in. conveniencies. The nobility of the Emirs and Shaiks does not exempt them from paying tribute, in proportion to their revenues. It confers on them no prerogatives, either in the attainment of landed proper. ty, or public employments. In this country, no more than in all Turkey, are they acquainted with gamelaws, or glebes, or feigniorial, or ecclefiaftical tithes, franc fiefs or alienation fines; every thing is held, as I have faid, in freehold every man, after paying his miri and his rent, is master of his property. In fhort, by a particular privilege, the Druzes and Maronites pay no fine for their fucceffion; nor does the Emir, like the Sultan, arrogate to himself original and univerfal property: there exists, nevertheless, in the law of in heritance, an imperfection which produces difagreeable effects. Fathers have, as in the Roman law, the pow◄ er of preferring fuch of their children as they think proper; hence it has happened, in feveral families of the Shaiks, that the whole property has centered in the fame perfon, who has perverted it to the purpose of intriguing and caballing, while his relations remain, as they well exprefs it, princes of olives and cheese; that is to say, poor as peafants. In confequence of their prejudices, the Druzes do not choose to make alliances out of their own families. They invariably prefer their rela tion, though poor, to a rich stranger; and poor peafants have been known to refufe their daughters to merchants of Saide and Bairout, who poffeffed from twelve to fifteen thousand piaftres. They obferve alfo, to a certain degree, the cuftom of the Hebrews, which directed that a brother a large houfe. Soon after the mafter arriving, followed by feveral fervants, "alighted from his horfe, entered, and, seeing the stranger, asked him who he "was. I am an unfortunate man, replies Ibrahim, and request from thee an "afylum. God protect thee, faid the rich man; enter, and remain in peace. "Ibrahim lived feveral months in this houfe, without being queftioned by his "hoft. But, aftonished to see him every day go out on horfeback, and return, 66 at the fame hour, he ventured one day to enquire the reason-I have been "informed, replied the rich man, that a perfon named Ibrahim, the fon of "Soliman, is concealed in this town; he has flain my father, and I am "fearching for him to retaliate.-Then I knew, faid Ibrahim, that God had purpofely conducted me to that place; I adored his decree, and refigning "myfelf to death, I anfwered,-God has determined to avenge thee, offend❝ed man; thy victim is at thy feet. The rich man, aftonished, replied,-O! "ftranger! I fee thy misfortunes have made thee weary of life; thou feekest "to lofe it, but my hand cannot commit fuch a crime.-I do not deceive "thee, faid Ibrahim; thy father was fuch a one; we met each other in fuch "a place, and the affair happened in fuch and fuch a manner." A violent trembling then feized the rich man; his teeth chattered as if from intense cold; his eyes alternately fparkled with fury and overflowed with tears. In this agitation, he remained a long time; at length, turning to IbrahimTo-morrow, faid he, destiny shall join thee to my father, and God will have retaliated. But as for me, how can I violate the afylum of my house? Wretch. ed stranger, fly from my prefence! There, take thefe hundred fequins: begone quickly, and let me never behold thee more! L 3 a brother fhould efpoufe his brother's widow; but this is not peculiar to them; for they retain that as well as feveral other customs of that ancient people, in common with other inhabitants of Syria, and all the Arab tribes. In short, the proper and diftinctive character of the Druzes is, as I have faid, a fort of republican fpirit, which gives them more energy than any other fubjects of the Turk fh government, and an indif. ference for religion, which forms a ftriking contraft with the zeal of the Mahometans and Chriftians. In other refpects, their private life, their cufoms and prejudices, are the fame with other Orientals. They may marry feveral wives, and repudiate them when they chufe; but, except by the Emir and a few men of eminence, that is rarely practifed. Occupied with their rural labours, they experience neither artificial wants, nor thofe inordinate paffions, which are produced by the idleness of the inhabitants of cities and towns. The veil, worn by their women, is of itfelf a prefervative againft thofe defires which are the occafion of so many evils in fociety. No man knows the face of any other woman than his wife, his mother, his fitter, and fifters in-law. Every man lives in the bofom of his own family, and goes little abroad. The women, thofe even of the Shaiks, make the bread, roaft the coffee, wath the linen, cook the victuals, and perform all domeftic offices. The men cultivate their lands and vineyards, and dig canals for watering them. In the evening they fometimes amble in the court, the area, or houle of the chief of the village or family. There feated in a circle, with legs crofled, pipes in their mouths, and poinards at their belts, they difcourfe of their various labours, the scarcity, or plenty of their harvefts, peace or war, the conduct of the Emir, or the amount of the taxes; they relate paft tranfactions, difcufs prefent interefts, and form conjectures on the future. Their children, tired with play, come frequently to liften; and a ftranger is furprifed to hear them, at ten or twelve years old, recounting, with a ferious air, why Djezzar declared war against the Emir Youfef, how many purfes it coft that prince, what augmentation there will be of the miri, how many muskets there were in the camp, and who had the best mare. This is their only education. They are neither taught to read the pfalms, as among the Maronites, nor the Koran, like the Mahometans; hardly do the Shaiks know how to write a letter. But if their mind be deftitute of useful or agreeable information, at leaft, it is not pre-occupied by falfe and hurtful ideas; and, without doubt, fuch natural ignorance is well worth all our artificial folly. This advantage results from it, that their underftandings being nearly on a level, the inequality of conditions is lefs perceptible. For, in fact, we do not perceive among the Druzes that great diflance which, in most other focieties, degrades the inferior, without contributing to the advantage of the great. All, whether Shaiks or peafants, treat each other with that rational familiarity, which is equally remote from rudeness and fervility. The grand Emir himself is not a different man from the reft: he is a good country gentleman, who does not difdain admitting to his table the meanest farmer. In a word, word, their manners are thofe of ancient times, and that ruftic life, which marks the origin of every nation; and prove the people among whom they are ftill found are, as yet, only in the infancy of the focial state. Remarkable Speech of Logan, a Min. go Chief to Lord Dunmore, when Governor of Virginia.-Extracted from Mr. Jefferfon's Obfervations on Buffon's remarks on the Indians of North America. In order to the better understanding of the following Speech, Mr. Jefferfon introduces it by firft ftating the following Circumftances which gave Rife to it. N the fpring of the year 1774, committed on an inhabitant of the frontiers of that state, by two Indians of the Shawanee tribe. The neighbouring whites, according to their custom, undertook to punish this outrage in a fummary way. Col. Cre. fap, a man infamous for the many murders he had committed on thofe much-injured people, collected a a party, and proceeded down the Kanhaway in queft of vengeance. Unfortunately a canoe of women and children, with one man only, was feen coming from the oppofite fhore, unarmed, and unfufpecting a hoftile attack from the whites. Crefap and his party concealed themfeleves on the bank of the river, and the moment the canoe reached the fhore, fingled out their objects, and, at one fire, killed every perfon in it. This happened to be the family of Logan, who had long been diftinguished as a friend of the whites. This unworthy return provoked his ven- I appeal to any white man to fay, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he cloathed him not. During the courfe of the and bloody war, Logan remained Ι The The Story of Angelica. From a philofophical, hiftorical, and moral Effay on Old Maids, by a Friend to the Sifterhood. "A NGELICA was the only child of a worthy gentle. man, who having loft his wife, and dying himfelf during the infancy of his daughter, left her, with an estate of about a thousand a year, to the care of his molt intimate friend, a man of great integrity and benevolence, with a moderate fortune and a numerous family. Angelica grew up in the most affectionate intimacy with all the children of her excellent guardian; but her favourite friend was his eldest daughter, whom we will call Fauftina. She was born in the fame year with Angelica, and poffeffed the fame intelligent fweetness of temper, with the additional advantages of a beautiful countenance and a majestic perfon. Angelica had never any claim to either of thefe perfections: her fta. ture was rather below the common fize, and her features, though foftened by modefty, and animated by a lively understanding, were neither regular nor handfome; but, from the tenor of her life, it may be queftioned, if any female ever poffeffed a more beautiful foul. At the age of twenty-three she continued to refide in the houfe of her guardian, when a young man of a pleating Perfon and most engaging manners, to whom we will give the name of Eumenes, became a very affiduous vifitor at the house. He was a man of the fairest character, but of a narrow fortune; and many good people, who fuppofed him enamoured of Angelica's eftate, began to cenfure the guardian of that lady for encou raging the preliminary eps to fo unequal a match; they even foretold, as Eumenes was particularly attentive to Angelica, and often alone with her, that the young gentleman would foon fettle himself in life, by eloping with the heiress. Her guardian, who governed all his household by gentleness and affection, had too much confidence in his ward to apprehend fuch an event: but he began to think, that a serious and mutual paffion was taking root in the bofom of each party; an opinion in which he was confirmed, by obferving, that while his daughter was engaged in a diftant vifit of fome weeks, Eumenes continued to frequent the house with his usual affiduity, and feemed to court the fociety of Angelica. The old gentleman was, however, mistaken in one part of his conjecture; for Eumenes only fought the company of Angelica as the fenfible and pleafing friend of his abfent favourite: but as he had not yet confeffed his love, the gentle Angelica, like her guardian, misinterpreted his affiduity, and conceived for him the tendereft affection; which with her ufual franknefs, fhe determined to impart to her dear Fauftina, as foon as the returned. From this refolution the was accidentally diverted by a joy. ous confufion, which, difcovered it. felf both in the features and beha viour of Fauftina, who, on the very day of her return, eagerly put a letter into the hand of Angelica, and requested her to read it in her chamber, while fhe flew to converse in private with her father on its important contents. The letter was from Eumenes. It contained a paffionate declaration of his attachment to Fauftina, and a very romantic plan to facilitate their speedy marriage. What the feelings of Ange |