phalian secret tribunal, where they obtained a summons, and in case of non-appearance, a sentence, which was immediately communicated to the whole fraternity of free knights, a step by which were put in motion an host of executioners, bound by the most dreadful oath to spare neither father nor mother, nor to regard the sacred ties of friendship or matrimonial love. If a free knight met a friend condemned by the seeret ban, and gave him only the slightest hint to save his life by fight, all the other free knights were bound to hang him seven feet higher than any other criminal. The sentence being pronounced in the secret ban, they were obliged to put it into immediate execution, and not permitted to make the least remonstrance, though they were perfectly convinced that the victim was the best of men, and innocent of the crime alleged against him. This induced almost every man of rank and power to become a member of that dreadful association, in order to secure himself against its effects. Every prince had some free knights among his counsellors, and the majority of the German nobility belonged to that secret order. Even princes, for instance, the duke of Bavaria and the margrave of Brandenburgh, were members of the secret tribunal. The duke William of Brunswic is reported to have said: 'I must order the duke Adolphus of Schleswic to be hanged, if he should come to see me, lest the free knights ▪ should hang me.' It was difficult to elude the proceedings of the free knights, as they at all times contrived to steal at night, unknown and unseen, to the gates of castles, palaces, and towns, and to affix the summons of the secret tribunal. When this had been done three times, and the accused did not appear, he was condemned by the secret ban, and summoned once more to submit to the execution of the sentence; and in case of non-appearance, he was solemnly outlawed, and then the invisible hands of free knights followed all his steps till they found an opportunity of taking away his life. When a free knight thought himself too weak to seize and hang the culprit, he was bound to pursue him till he met with some of his colleagues, who assisted him in hanging him to a tree, near the high road, and not to a gibbet; signifying thereby that they exercised a free imperial judicature throughout the whole empire, independent of all provincial tribunals. If the devoted victim made resistance, so as to compel them to poignard him; they tied the dead body to a tree, fixing the dagger over his head, to show that he had not been murdered, but executed by a free knight. "Their transactions were shrouded in the most profound concealment: and the signal by which they recognised one another never could be discovered. Their secret proceedings were not permitted to be disclosed to the emperor himself, although he was supreme master of the chair. Only when he asked, 'Has N. N. been condemned?' the free knights were allowed to reply in the affirmative or negative: but when he inquired Who had been condemned by the secret ban?' they were not permitted to mention any name. "The emperor, or his delegate, could create free knights no where but on the 'red soil,', i. e. West phaly, phaly, with the assistance of three free knights, who acted as witnesses. The real signification of the term red soil, and the reason why it was applied to Westphaly, has not yet been traced out; but during my stay in that country, I learnt the following particulars concerning it, which seemed to me most probable. They informed me, that the terms red soil were used as a nickname, to distinguish the Westpl:alian country, in which this abominable bloody tribunal had been first established, from those milder ones of the same kind in Germany. For Red soil, i. e, Rother grund,' or ' Himmelsstrich,' or 'Himmels-gegend,' became its most forcible and current name, from a noble family, which was successively subject to the barbarity of those bloodhounds. When any of its descendants happened to ask what had become of their ancestors, they were generally answered with the nickname, They have wandered to the Red soil, i. e. to the Soil that is stained with blood. For red signifies in German not only roth, but also blood-red; and soil signifies erde. Thus blutrothe erde,' blood-red soil." The ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY-OPINIONS of GIBBON CRITICISED. [From WHITE'S EGYPTIACA.] Annals of Eutychius, and the executed with blind obedience: Saracenic History of Elmacins the volumes of paper or parch-The silence of Abulfeda, Murtadi, 'ment were distributed to the four ' and a crowd of Moslems is less thousand baths; and such was 'conclusive, from their ignorance their incredible multitude, that ' of Christian literature.' six months were barely sufficient for the consumption of this pre⚫cious fuel. Since the Dynasties of Abulpharagius have been given to the world in a Latin version, the tale has been repeatedly transcribed; and every scholar, with pious indignation, has deplored the irreparable shipwreck of the learning, the arts, and the genius, of antiquity. For my own part, I am strongly tempted to deny both the fact and its consequences. The fact is indeed * marvellous; "Read and wonder!" says the historian himself.' Edit. 4to, vol. v. p. 343. This anecdote,' subjoins Mr. Gibbon in a note on this passage, "But first, we may ask, is the story of Abulpharajus itself correctly reported by Mr. Gibbon? Surely it is an unfair inference, which he has made from the historian's words, that all the four thousand baths of the city were supplied with these books for fuel. Their distribution amongst any number of the baths would justify the expression of Abulpharajus, and the meaning which I would affix to it. He does not say, that six months were barely sufficient for the consumption: this is a false comment upon a mistaken text. The Arabic historian says nothing like it; he simply relates the fact, that in half a year the books were entirely in the Arabic, but omitted in the Syriac. Instances of this kind are numerous; and every general scholar may judge for himself, as both the histories in the original languages, together with the Latin translations, are before the public. I trust, therefore, that we shall hear no more of the objection urged by Mr. Gibbon, that the solitary report of a stranger, who wrote at the end of six hundred years on the confines of Media, is over'balanced by the silence of two entirely consumed: but how many baths were employed in their destruction, he neither says nor insinuates. The incredible multitude of the volumes, therefore, vanishes at once. If during the whole time which elapsed, whilst these precious monuments of antiquity were gradually consuming, no sentiment of remorse or compunction arose in the breasts of the conquerors, no wish to rescue the still remaining treasures of this inestimable library from further ravage and destruction, well mightannalists of a more early date, Abulpharajus exclaim, Hear and 'both Christians, both natives of wonder! Hear and wonder at Egypt, and the most ancient of the brutal ignorance and unrelent- whom, the patriarch Eutychius, ing fury of the barbarians! has amply described the conquest ' of Alexandria.' Secondly, even if I should grant to Mr. Gibbon, that we have only the evidence of Abulpharajus for the general fact, I see no ground for rational scepticism with regard to its reality. I will concede even more; I will allow that Abulpharajus himself does not mention the circumstance in his Syriac Universal History, though he generally describes the period when it happened. They both contain in general the same narrative, but with occasional additions and omissions, as appeared to the author most interesting to the class of readers for whom he was writing. Thus many particulars concerning the siege and capture of Acca, with the various messages which passed betwixt our lion-hearted Richard and his generous rival Saladin, are given at large in the Syriac, but entirely passed over in the Arabic: on the contrary, the request of Philoponus, and the burning of the Alexandrian library, are given "If Abulpharajus himself, in his Syriac Universal History, has both given the life of Omar and noticed the capture of Alexandria, and yet omitted mentioning the burning of the library, and even the very name of Philoponus, why might not the two annalists do the same? "The high literary as well as ecclesiastical rank of this illustrious primate of the East, and the numerous concurrent testimonies, as well of Mahometans as Christians, to the gravity and sanctity of his character, would, in my opinion, even if he were found to stand single in his testimony, more than overbalance the frivolous cavils of Mr. Gibbon. "But further, to the negative argument of Mr. Gibbon I shall venture to oppose the positive testimony of two Arabic historians, both writers of unquestionable authority, and both orthodox professors of the Musulman faith, "The two Universal Histories of Abulpharajas, written in the Syriac and Arabic languages." Macrisi Macrisi and Abdoilatif; who not only agree in stating the fact, the burning of the library, but also point out to us the exact spot on which the library stood. For after describing the column, commonly called Pompey's Pillar, and meutioning the adjacent ruins of some ancient edifice, they add, that ⚫ there was the library which Amru Ebn ́ El Aas burnt by the 'command of the khalif Omar.' I conclude, therefore, that both the burning, or, more strictly speaking, the despoiling, of the library by Amru, and its actual situation, are indisputably ascertained. "A satisfactory answer having now, I hope, been given to the sceptical insinuation of Mr. Gibbon, I advance a step further. As the library despoiled by Amru was a royal library, and as the first Ptolemaan library was unfortunato ly burnt by Julius Cæsar, this must necessarily have been the second Ptolemæan library; and consequently part of the temple of Sera pis. We have at length, then, by the assistance of Arabic writers, unexpectedly discovered the site of the Serapeum; a discovery eagerly sought for by the curious for more than a century and hence arises one strong proof, that a knowledge of Arabic may be made peculiarly subservient to the illustration.of Egyptian antiquities., "But are there no passages, it may be asked, in Greek or Latin authors, which corroborate the evidence of Arabic writers respecting the site of the Serapeum? I answer, that certainly there are; though their meaning has hitherto been wholly overlooked, and perhaps would for ever have been lost in obscurity, had not a ray of light broken in from the East. Such, however, is the accumulated force of these passages, when properly considered, as to leave no room to doubt that the temple of Serapis was contiguous to what is commonly called the Pillar of Pompey." REMARKS on the REIGN of ELIZABETH. [From ELLIS'S SPECIMENS of the Early ENGLISH POETS.] "TH HE poetical history of this important reign, which occupies near a century in our annals, could not easily be comprised in a moderate volume. Epic and didactic poems, satires, plays, maskes, translations from the Greek, Latin, and all the modern languages, historical legends, devotional poems, pastoral sonnets, madrigals, acros tics, and humourous and romantic, ballads, were produced during this period, with a profusion which, perhaps, has perhaps, has never since been equalled. No less than seventyfour poets are assigned to the reign of Elizabeth in the new edition of the Theatrum Poctarum,' and the catalogue might certainly be much further extended. "Abulpharajus affirms, that the books were ordered to be distributed amongst the baths, and used as fuel for heating them. It being then explicitly stated, that they' were not burnt in the library, we may fairly infer, that the edifice itself, that is, its walls, rooms, and colonnades, remained after the books were committed to the flames." M 1801. " It "It is true, that, of these claimants to immortality, the far greater number have been very generally consigned to oblivion; a few, such as Drayton, Fairfax, Warner, sir John Harrington, sir Philip Sidney, sir Walter Raleigh, &c., continue to be cited, in deference to their ancient reputation; but Shakspeare, Jonson, Fletcher, Spenser, and sir John Davis, are still confessed to be unrivalled in their several styles of composition, although near two centuries have elapsed, during which the progress of literature and the improvement of our language have been constant and uninterrupted. ་ general emulation of the learned. "The literary splendour of this reign may be justly attributed to the effects of the Reformation. When the corruptions and impos"It must also he remembered tures of popery were abolished,' that the English language was, at says Mr. Warton, the laity, who this time, much more copious, and had now been taught to assert consequently better adapted to their natural privileges, became poetry, than at any prior or subseimpatient of the old monopoly of quent period. Our vocabulary knowledge, and demanded ad- was enriched, during the first half mission to the usurpations of the of the sixteenth century, by almost clergy. The general curiosity daily adoptions from the learned for new discoveries, heightened languages; and though they were either by just or imaginary ideas often admitted without necessity, of the treasures contained in the and only in consequence of a blind 'Greek and Roman.writers, exci- veneration for the dignity of polyted all persons of leisure and for- syllables, they must have added 'tune to study the classics. The something to the expression, as pedantry of the present age was well as to the harmony and variety the politeness of the last. Of of our language. These exotics this pedantry he adduces a curious instance in the occupations of queen Elizabeth, whose marvellous progress in the Greek nouns is recorded with rapture by her preceptor Roger Ascham; and he might have found many similar exaniples in Anne Bullen, and other distinguished characters. But these efforts of patience and industry in the great, were perhaps necessary to encourage and preserve the however did not occasion the ex- |