forming Tiberius that Justinian was bais. It will be seen from this sketch that considerable liberties have been taken with the historical facts. In the first place the character of Narses, who was in every respect as great a general as Belisarius, is unjustly blackened, and that of Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, and the cause of his misfortunes, is far too civilly treated. Justin did not. associate Tiberius with him in the empire till two years after his accession, and did not marry his sister, nor is there any reason to believe that the Anastasia who married Ti berius, was the daughter of Belisarius. The same sort of liberties are always taken in every historical novel, but it is no trifling objection to them that they tend to confound truth and fiction. Madame Genlis' language is always pure, and her morality unexceptionable. ART. XVIII. Theodore or the Peruvians, from the French of Pigault le Brun 1 vol. 12mo. 1808. THIS story was not worth translating. The tale of a Peruvian priestess falling in love with an ART. XIX. The Gûlistán, or Rose Garden. ras. Translated from the Original, by SADY'S Rose Garden was latinized by Gentius. The Dutchman was a close but inelegant translator; his oriental learning did not procure him bread, and he died in extreme misery. From Gentius, Herder,the German poet and priest, has versified some of the beauties of Sâdy; this double translation has contributed to raise the reputation of the Persian, as only the very best specimens have been preserved; and those who wish to admire Sâdy will view him in his German dress. The debasing governments, and still more debasing religions of Asia, seem effectually to have cramped every faculty of the mind. The poet and the moralist must European, has been often told, and never more unnaturally than by M. le Brun. By Musle-Huddeen Shaik Sády, of SheeFRANCIS GLADWIN. 8vo. form his idea of human nature in a great degree from the beings who surround him; and where tyrants or slaves must be the subjects of his speculations, and the judges of his merit, his theme is not likely to be very, elevated: cold-blooded prudence, and a cowardly resignation to avoidable evils, are the morals likely to be inculcated by the flatterer of a despot, and the believers in predestination. The present work is divided into eight chapters on the following subjects: 1st. On the morals of kings. 2nd. On the morals of Durwaishes. 3d. On the excellency of contentment. 4th. On the advantages of Taciturnity. 5th. On love and youth. 6th. On imbecility and old age. 7th. On the effects of education. 8th. Rules for conduct in life. Each chapter consists of a number of short tales, most of them sufficient ly dull. We will transcribe some of them, that our readers may form their own judgement. "A KING was sitting in a vessel with a Persian slave. The boy having never before seen the sea, nor experienced the inconvenience of a ship, began to cry and lament, and his whole body was in a tremor. Notwithstanding all the soothings that were offered, he would not be pacified. The King's diversion was interrupted, and no remedy could be found. A philosopher who was in the ship, said, "If you will command me, I will silence him." The King replied, "It will be an act of great kindness." The philosopher or dered them to throw the boy into the sea, and after several plunges, they laid hold of the hair of his head, and drag ging him towards the ship, he clang to the rudder with both his hands. "When he got out of the water, he sat down quietly in a corner of the vessel. The King was pleased, and asked how this was brought about: The philosopher replied, "At first he had never experienced the danger of being drowned; neither knew he the safety of a ship." In like manner, he knoweth the value of prosperity, who hath encountered adversity. thou who hast satisfied thine hunger, to thee a barley loaf is beneath notice; that seems loveliness to me, which in thy sight appears deformity. To the nymphs of paradise, purgatory would be hell: and ask the inhabitants of hell, whether purgatory is not paradise. There is a difference between him who claspeth his mistress in his arms, and him whose eyes are fixed on the door expecting her." This royal remedy for sea-sickness is more efficacious than agree able. The morals of Durwaishes, as well as the practical rules to be drawn from their doctrines, are well exemplified in the following tale. The “A Du waish, having some pressing advantages of ously wounded in an expedition against "A certain gallant man was griev the Tartars; somebody said, Such a merchant has an unguent, of which perhaps he might give you a little were torious for his parsimony. If the sun you to ask it? The merchant was nohad been on his table instead of bread, world until the day of judgement. no one would have seen light in the The gallant man replied, "If I ask for the unguent it is uncertain whether he will give it or not, and if he should give it, the effect is doubtful. On every account to ask of such a man is a deadly poison. "That which you obtain by intreaty from mean people, may benefit the body, have said, if the water of immortality, but it injures the soul: and the sages for example, was to be sold in exchange for reputation, the wise man would not purchase it; for an honourable death is preferable to a disgraceful life. If you eat colocynth from the hand of a kind man, it is preferable to a sweet-meat given by one who has a crabbed countenance." land of darkness. She held in her hand a cup of snow water, into which she sprinkled sugar, and mixed it with the The following joke exists in most juice of the grape. I know not whemodern jest books. "A man with a disagreeable voice was reading the Koran aloud, when a holy man passing by, asked what was his month st pend. He answed, Nothing at all." He resumed, "Why then do you take so much trouble?" He replied, "I read for the sake of God." The other rejoined, "For God's sake do not read; for if you read the Koran in this manner, you will destroy the splendor of Islamism." Every country has its Joe Millar, yet the number of jokes invented in the same country are probably very few. A complete collection of jest books in a languages, would be invaluable. We should probably find that many of the popular tales and jokes which are common to most European countries, have been originally derived from the East. The present work, written in Persia in the 13th century, contains many stories which are to be found with the alteration of names in most of our complete jokers. The popular song of "Drink to me only with thine eyes," "bears some analogy to the following tale. "I recollect that in my youth as I was passing through a street, I cast my eyes on a beautiful girl. It was in the Autumn, when the heat dried up all moisture from the mouth, and the sultry wind made the marrow boil in the bones, so that being unable to support the sun's powerful beams, I was obliged to take shelter under the shade of a wall, in hopes that some one would relieve me from the distressing heat of summer, and quench my thirst with a draught of water. Suddenly from the shade of the portico of a house I beheld a female form, whose beauty it is impossible for the tongue of eloquence to describe; in so much that it seemed as it the dawn was rising in the obscurity of night, or as if the water of immortality was issuing from the ther what I perceived, was the fragrance of rose water, or that she had infused into it a few drops from the blossom of her cheek. In short, I received the cup from her beauteous hand, and drinking the contents, found myself restored to new life. The thirst of my heart is not such that it can be allayed with a drop of pure water, the streams of whole rivers wou d not satisfy it. How happy is that fortunate person whose eyes every morning may behold such a countenance. He who is intoxicated with wine will be sober again in the course of the night; but he who is inrecover his senses until the day of judgetoxicated by the cupbearer, will not ment." Mr. Gladwin writes no preface, nor does he give us any account of the life and writings of the author from whom he 'translates. The version of Gentius is more literal, and, on account of its verbelity, will prove more useful to the incipient Persian scholar. Sâdy's Bostan has not yet been rendered into any modern language, it is written in hendecasyll bic verse; and we shall be happy to hear that Mr. Gladwin is likely to introduce it to our acquaintance. Why is not Ferdusi translated? Even the wretched rhymes in which champion has rendered a part of his poem, have excited the curiosity of all the lovers of romance. Surely among the number of Persian scholars who are now annually exported from this country, some might be found in whom the love of wealth is not that the East India Company will the only passion. May we hope ever reward the literary labours of their servants? To use the language of Sâdy, we may as well expect the crow to sing like the nightingale, or the pebble to become a ruby. CHAPTER XIV. FINE ARTS. ART. I. Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, Executed from Designs. By THOMAS HOPE. folio. THE luxury and convenience of household furniture appear to have been very little attended to in this country during the ages when the residences of the nobility and gentry were castles, and defence was thought of more than comfort or ornament. The noble and wealthy proprietors were well contented to arrange their guests and dependants, at a long table on wooden benches, to enjoy the feast, the minstrel's song, and the jester's pleasantry. It was not till the country had been brought to a settled state under Henry the VIIth, that refinement began to be introduced into the system of domestic life. Henry the VIIIth, who had a taste for the arts, joined to a spirit of magnificence, employed Holbein to make designs for all kinds of furniture, which in richness greatly surpassed any thing that had before been attempted, but were clumsy in their forms, and in number fell extremely short of the inventions of modern times. Since that period our furniture and decorations have varied through all the changes of Dutch festoons, French scrolls, Chinese monsters, and the ornaments of Palmyra and the baths of Titus, selected without choice, and arranged without method. It is but justice to Mr. Hope to acknowledge that he is the first in this country who has produced a system of furniture. collected from the beautiful examples of antiquity, the parts of which are congruous with each other, and the whole adapted to domestic ease and comfort. The degrees of rank, in society, and the various employments, are at the present day so admirably suited to the different genius and powers of men, that whilst the light of science affords the means, honours and advantages stimulate the exertions of every useful faculty for the public good. General information has communicated to all, the rules of duty, the sense of benevolence, and value of useful knowledge; and we have the satisfaction to see men of the first character, at the same time that they arm in defence of the country, or engage in its politics, employ their leisure in the study and promotion of agriculture, literature and the fine arts, in concerting plans, and forming institutions for public benefit and private comfort. Of this honourable description is the respectable author of the work before us, whose mind has been cultivated by study and travel, and whose plans have been produced by his own genius and industry for the employment of the ingenious artizan, and the amelioration of public taste. As mere household furniture is not, however, a subject of the first interest and importance in itself, we shall extend this article to no great length, but lay before the reader an example or two from the simple manners of former times to contrast with the multiplied convenience of the present day; and then consider the merits of the work. It is near four hundred years since Cosmo, the father of Lorenzo de Medici retired occasionally to his villa at Carreggia, near Florence. This house has undergone little alteration; and the dining hall, with all its furniture, remains the same at this day as in the time of its ancient possessor. It is a room about fifty feet in length, twentyfive feet wide, and as many in heighth the wall is plain, and white washed, the ceiling is formed of beams and rafters boarded above; the floor is tiled, according to the custom of the country. In the middle of the floor stands a long table of rough boards, supported on trussels; over the table hangs from an iron chain a chandelier, consisting of twelve wooden branches, with a tin nossel to each. There are three branches of the same kind affixed to tin plates, which also held lights on each opposite wali. Twelve boxes placed against the walls held linen and table furniture, &c. &c. when moved to the table each served two persons to sit on. Another example of this ancient simplicity may be given in the house of Dean Colet's father, at Stepney, the parlour of which, instead of chairs, had a long wainscot bench affixed to the wall. This close arrangement of guests at a feast on benches, notwithstanding it is recommended by the foregoing examples, is certainly liable to one inconvenience; that if gentlemen are at all heated by wine, or the subject of conversation, the orgies of Mars may chance to succeed to the livations of Bacchus, or a merry meeting be finished by a bloody nose or a broken head, merely from the circumstances of too near neighbourhood, and not being able to get out of each other's way in good time: whereas the very same persons, in the very same circumstances, sitting on chairs, when they perceive the furor coming on, may gently slide away from the inspired party, and so avoid the mischief. Mr. Hope, in his preface, page 3, informs us that his designs had their beginning from the desire to arrange a small collection of antiquities" in some of his apartments, with such furniture as should partake of the same style and character. The additional motives which engaged him in the prosecution of this plan we quote in his own words: "Thus I hoped to entice the wealthy, through the more general diffusion of the charms of art, and through the thence resulting more general initiation into the mysteries of taste, to divert the employment of a larger portion of their opulence from an idle and ruinous waste of those articles of gross sensuality or trivial amusement, which, incapable of being enjoyed until they are consumed, are only produced, in order to be again destroyed, to the more profitable as well as more dignified procurement of those monuments of visible elegance and intellectual beauty, which, capable of being enjoyed during the longest periods, and by the greatest numbers, without suffering any material degradation, can alone become instruments of universal and durable gratification, as well as of solid and permanent grandeur; and thus, moreover, by enabling the lover of elegant refinement to find at home those objects. of superior design and execution, which formerly he could only obtain from abroad; by converting into lucrative articles of home-manufacture, and of beneficial exportation, those very commodities. which had heretofore only appeared in the repulsive and unpatriotic shape of expensive articles of foreign ingenuity, and of disadvantageous importation, I hoped to increase in a considerable degree the internal resources, and the external independence of the commonwealth. "Thus, in fine, I hoped to contribute my mite not only towards remotely giving new food to the |