peace, rather than war. Their occupa- | tent, and admonishes him, by these tion was to teach diseased barbarians, messengers, to a more pleasant exercise who despised them, and thought it no of his authority. That such severe small favour that they should be per-punishments should not confer a more mitted to exist in their neighbourhood. powerful authority, and give birth to a They had to witness the cruelties of better discipline, is less extraordinary, despotism, and the passions of armed if we reflect, that we hear only that the and ignorant multitudes; and all this punishments are severe, not that they embellished with the fair probability of are steady, and that they are just; for being swept off, in some grand en- if the Turkish soldiers were always gagement, by the superior tactics and punished with the same severity when activity of the enemy to whom the they were in fault, and never but then, Tarks were opposed. To the filth, it is not in human nature to suppose irregularity, and tumult of a Turkish that the Turkish army would long camp, as it appeared to the British remain in as contemptible a state as it officers in 1800, it is curious to oppose now is. But the governed soon learn the picture of one drawn by Busbequius to distinguish between systematic in the middle of the sixteenth century: energy and the excesses of casual and "Turcæ in proximis campis tendebant; capricious cruelty; the one awes them cum vero in eo loco tribus mensibus into submission, the other rouses them vixerim, fuit mihi facultas videndorum to revenge. ipsorum castrorum, et cognoscendæ aliqua ex parte disciplinæ; qua de re nisi pauca attingam, habeas fortasse quod me accuses. Sumpto habitu Christianis hominibus in illis locis usitato, cum uno aut altero comite quacunque vagabar ignotus: primum videbam summo ordine cujusque corporis milites suis locis distributos, et, quod vix credat, qui nostratis militiæ consuetudinem novit, summum erat abique silentium, summa quies, rixa nulla, nullum cujusquam insolens factum: sed ne nox quidem aut vitulatio per lasciviam aut ebrietatem emissa. Ad hæc summa mundities, nulla sterquilinia, nulla purgamenta, nihil quod oculos aut nares offenderet. Quicquid est hujusmodi, aut defodiunt Turcæ, aut procul à conspectu submovent. Sed nec ullas compotationes aut convivia, nullum alex genus, magnum nostratis militiæ flagitium, videre erat: nulla lusoriarium chartarum, neque tesserarum damna norunt Turcæ.". Augeri Busbequii, Epist. 3. p. 187. Hanoria. 1622. There is at present, in the Turkish army, a curious mixture of the severest despotism in the commander, and the most rebellious insolence in the soldier. When the soldier misbehaves, the Vizier cuts his head off, and places it under his arm. When the soldier is dissatisfied with the Vizier, he fires his ball through his Dr. Wittman, in his chapter on the Turkish army, attributes much of its degradation to the altered state of the corps of Janissaries; the original constitution of which corps was certainly both curious and wise. The children of Christians made prisoners in the predatory incursions of the Turks, or procured in any other manner, were exposed in the public markets at Constantinople. Any farmer or artificer was at liberty to take one into his service, contracting with government to produce him again when he should be wanted; and in the meantime to feed and clothe him, and to educate him to such works of labour as are calculated to strengthen the body. As the Janissaries were killed off, the government drew upon this stock of hardy orphans for its levies; who, instead of hanging upon weeping parents at their departure, came eagerly to the camp, as the situation which they had always been taught to look upon as the theatre of their future glory, and towards which all their passions and affections had been bent, from their earliest years. Arrived at the camp, they received at first low pay, and performed menial offices for the little division of Janissaries to which they were attached: “Ad Gianizaros rescriptus primo meret menstruo stipendio, paulo plus minus, unius ducati cum dimidio. Id enim militi novitio, et rudi satis esse censent. Sed | and regiments in the European fashion, tamen ne quid victus necessitati desit, and would, if he were well seconded, cum ea decuria, in cujus contubernium adscitus est, gratis cibum capit, eâ conditione, ut in culinâ reliquoque ministerio ei decuriæ serviat; usum armorum adeptus tyro, necdum tamen suis contubernalibus honore neque stipendio par, unam in solâ virtute, se illis æquandi, spem habet: utpote si militiæ quæ prima se obtulerit, tale specimen sui dederit, ut dignus judicetur, qui tyrocinio exemptus, honoris gradu et stipendii magnitudine, reliquis Gianizaris par habeatur. Quâ quidem spe plerique tyrones impulsi, multa præclare audent, et fortitudine cum veteranis certant.' - Busbequius, De Re Mil. cont. Turc. Instit. Consilium.* The same author observes, that there was no rank or dignity in the Turkish army to which a common Janissary might not arrive cess. They are not to be taught; and by his courage or his capacity. This last is a most powerful motive to exertion, and is perhaps one leading cause of the superiority of the French arms. Ancient governments promote, from numberless causes, which ought to have no concern with promotion revolutionary governments, and military despotisms, can make generals of persons who are fit for generals: to enable them to be unjust in all other instances, they are forced to be just in this. What, in fact, are the sultans and pachas of Paris, but Janissaries raised from the ranks? At present, the Janissaries are procured from the lowest of the people, and the spirit of the corps is evaporated. The low state of their armies is in some degree imputable to this: but the principle reason why the Turks are no longer as powerful as they were is, that they are no longer enthusiasts, and that war is now become more a business of science than of personal courage. bring about some important reforms in the Turkish empire. But what has become of all the reforms of the famous Gazi Hassan? The blaze of partial talents is soon extinguished. Never was there so great a prospect of improvement as that afforded by the exertions of this celebrated man, who, in spite of the ridicule thrown upon him by Baron de Tott, was such a man as the Turks cannot expect to see again once in a century. He had the whole power of the Turkish empire at his disposal for fifteen years; and, after repeated efforts to improve the army, abandoned the scheme as totally impracticable. The celebrated Bonneval, in his time, and De Tott since, made the same attempt with the same suc The person of the greatest abilities in the Turkish empire is the Capitan Pacha. He has disciplined some ships This is a very spirited appeal to his countrymen on the tremendous power of the Turks; and, with the substitution of France for Turkey, is so applicable to the present times, that it might be spoken in parliament with great effect. six months after his death, everything the present Capitan Pacha has done will be immediately pulled to pieces. The present Grand Vizier is a man of no ability. There are some very entertaining instances of his gross ignorance cited in the 133d page of the Travels. Upon the news being communicated to him that the earth was round, he observed that this could not be the case; for the people and the objects on the other side would in that case fall off; and that the earth could not move round the sun; for if so, a ship bound from Jaffa to Constantinople, instead of proceeding to the capital would be carried to London, or elsewhere. We cannot end this article without confessing with great pleasure the entertainment we have received from the work which occasions it. It is an excellent lounging-book, full of pleasant details, never wearying by prolixity, or offending by presumption, and is apparently the production of a respectable, worthy man. So far we can conscientiously recommend it to the public; for anything else, Non cuivis homini contingit adire, &c. &c. &c. EDGEWORTH ON BULLS. (E. REVIEW, 1803.) balm beyond the precincts of Gilead. If nothing can be said to exist preeminently and emphatically in one country, which exists at all in another, then Frenchmen are not gay, nor Essay on Irish Bulls. By Richard Lovell don, 1802. the Milesian race remarkable for their We hardly know what to say about disinterested contempt of wealth in this rambling scrambling book; but their connubial relations. It is prothat we are quite sure the author, when bable there is some foundation for a be began any sentence in it, had not the character so generally diffused; though smallest suspicion of what it was about it is also probable that such foundation to contain. We say the author, be- is extremely enlarged by fame. If cause, in spite of the mixture of sexes there were no foundation for the in the title page, we are strongly in-common opinion, we must suppose clined to suspect that the male contri-national characters formed by chance; butions exceed the female in a very and that the Irish might, by accident, great degree. The Essay on Bulls have been laughed at as bashful and is written much with the same mind, sheepish; which is impossible. The and in the same manner, as a school- author puzzles himself a good deal boy takes a walk: he moves on for about the nature of bulls, without ten yards on the straight road, with coming to any decision about the surprising perseverance; then sets out matter. Though the question is not a after a butterfly, looks for a bird's nest, very easy one, we shall venture to say, or jumps backwards and forwards over that a bull is an apparent congruity, a ditch. In the same manner, this and real incongruity of ideas, suddenly nimble and digressive gentleman is discovered. And if this account of away after every object which crosses bulls be just, they are (as might have his mind. If you leave him at the been supposed) the very reverse of wit; end of a comma, in a steady pursuit for as wit discovers real relations, that of his subject, you are sure to find are not apparent, bulls admit apparent him, before the next full stop, a hundred relations that are not real. The pleasure yards to the right or left, frisking, arising from wit proceeds from our capering, and grinning in a high pa- surprise at suddenly discovering two roxysm of merriment and agility. Mr. things to be similar, in which we susEdgeworth seems to possess the senti- pected no similarity. The pleasure ments of an accomplished gentleman, arising from bulls proceeds from our the information of a scholar, and the discovering two things to be dissimilar, vivacity of a first-rate harlequin. He in which a resemblance might have is fuddled with animal spirits, giddy been suspected. The same doctrine with constitutional joy; in such a state will apply to wit, and to bulls in he must have written on, or burst. A action. Practical wit discovers condischarge of ink was an evacuation nection or relation between actions, in absolutely necessary, to avoid fatal and plethoric congestion. which duller understandings discover none; and practical bulls originate from an apparent relation between two actions, which more correct understandings immediately perceive to have no relation at all. The object of the book is to prove, that the practice of making bulls is not more imputable to the Irish than to any other people; and the manner in which he sets about it, is to quote ex- Louis XIV., being extremely haamples of bulls produced in other rassed by the repeated solicitations of countries. But this is surely a singular a veteran officer for promotion, said way of reasoning the question: for one day, loud enough to be heard, there are goitres out of the Valais," That gentleman is the most troubleextortioners who do not worship Moses, some officer I have in my service." oat cakes south of the Tweed, and "That is precisely the charge (said the old man) which your Majesty's on the contrary, to be some relation enemies bring against me.' between the revenge of the Irish rebels against a banker, and the means which they took to gratify it, by burning all his notes wherever they found them; whereas, they could not have rendered him a more essential service. In both these cases of bulls, the one verbal, the other practical, there is an apparent congruity and real incongruity of ideas. In both the cases of wit, there is an apparent incongruity and a real relation. “An English gentleman (says Mr. Edgeworth, in a story cited from Joe Miller) was writing a letter in a coffee-house; and perceiving that an Irishman stationed behind him was taking that liberty which Parmenio used with his friend Alexander, instead of putting his seal upon the lips of the curious impertinent, the English gentleman thought proper to reprove the Hibernian, if not with delicacy, at least with poetical justice. He concluded writing his letter in these words: I would say more, but a damned tall Irishman is reading over my It is clear that a bull cannot depend shoulder every word I write.' upon mere incongruity alone; for if a "You lie, you scoundrel,' said the self-man were to say that he would ride to convicted Hibernian."-(p. 29.) The pleasure derived from the first of these stories proceeds from the discovery of the relation that subsists between the object he had in view, and the assent of the officer to an observation so unfriendly to that end. In the first rapid glance which the mind throws upon his words, he appears, by his acquiescence, to be pleading against himself. There seems to be no relation between what he says and what he wishes to effect by speaking. In the second story, the pleasure is directly the reverse. The lie given was apparently the readiest means of proving his innocence, and really the most effectual way of establishing his guilt. There seems for a moment to be a strong relation between the means and the object; while, in fact, no irrelation can be so complete. London upon a cocked hat, or that he A As there must be apparent connection, and real incongruity, it is seldom that a man of sense and education finds any form of words by which What connection is there between he is conscious that he might have pelting stones at monkeys and gather- been deceived into a bull. To coning cocoa-nuts from lofty trees? Ap-ceive how the person has been deparently none. But monkeys sit upon cocoa-nut trees; monkeys are imitative animals; and if you pelt a monkey with a stone, he pelts you with a cocoanut in return. This scheme of gathering cocoa-nuts is very witty, and would be more so, if it did not appear useful: for the idea of utility is always inimical to the idea of wit. There appears, It must be observed, that all the great passions, and many other feelings, extinguish the relish for wit. Thus lympha pudica Deum vidit et erebuit, would be witty, were it not bordering on the sublime. The resemblance between the sandal tree imparting (while it falls) its aromatic fla vour to the edge of the axe, and the benevolent man rewarding evil with good, would be witty, did it not excite virtuous emotions. There are many mechanical contrivances but the attention is absorbed by their util which excite sensations very similar to wit; ity. Some of Merlin's machines, which have no utility at all, are quite similar to wit. A small model of a steam engine, or mere squirt, is wit to a child. A man speculates on the causes of the first, or on its consequences, and so loses the feelings of wit: with the latter he is too familiar to be surprised. In short, the essence of every species of wit is surprise; which, vi termini, must be sudden; and the sensations which wit has a tendency to excite, are impaired or destroyed, as often as they are mingled with much thought or passion. -formosa superne Desinit in piscem. We are extremely glad that our avocations did not call us from Bath to London, on the day that the Bath ceived, he must suppose a degree of first, however, ends in a very foolish information very different from, and a way; species of character very heterogeneous to, his own; a process which diminishes surprise, and consequently pleasure. In the above-mentioned story of the Irishman overlooking the man writing, no person of ordinary sagacity can sup-coach conversation took place. We pose himself betrayed into such a mistake: but he can easily represent to himself a kind of character that might have been so betrayed. There are some bulls so extremely fallacious, that any man may imagine himself to have been betrayed into them; but these are rare: and, in general, it is a poor contemptible species of amusement; a delight in which evinces a very bad taste in wit. except from this wish the story with which the conversation terminates; for as soon as Mr. Edgeworth enters upon a story he excels. lively feeling of compassion which pervades it for the distresses of the wild, kind-hearted, blundering poor of Ireland. We must confess we have been much more pleased with Mr. Edgeworth in his laughing, and in his pathetic, than in his grave and reasoning moods. He meant, perhaps, that we should; and it certainly is not very necessary that a writer should be profound on the Whether the Irish make more bulls subject of bulls. Whatever be the than their neighbours is, as we have deficiencies of the book, they are, in before remarked, not a point of much our estimation, amply atoned for by importance; but it is of considerable its merits; by none more, than that importance that the character of a nation should not be degraded and Mr. Edgeworth has great merit in his very benevolent intention of doing justice to the excellent qualities of the Irish. It is not possible to read his book, without feeling a strong and a new disposition in their favour. Whether the imitation of the Irish manner be! accurate in his little stories we cannot determine; but we feel the same confidence in the accuracy of the imitation, that is often felt in the resemblance of a portrait of which we have never seen the original. It is no very high compliment to Mr. Edgeworth's creative powers, to say, he could not have formed anything, which was not real, so like reality; but such a remark only robs Peter to pay Paul; and gives everything to his powers of observation which it takes from those of his imagination. In truth, nothing can be better than his imitation of the Irish manner: it is first-rate painting. ACCOUNT OF SIERRA LEONE. (E. REVIEW, 1804.) An Account of Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone. To which is added, An Account of the present State of Medicine among them. By Thomas Winterbottom, Physician to the Colony of Sierra Leone. Hatchard, Piccadilly. Vol. I. Ir appears from the Preface of this book, that the original design of Dr. Winterbottom was to write only on the medical knowledge of the Africans in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone; but as he had lived among them some time in quality of physician to the colony, and had made many observations on the genius and manners of the various African nations which surround Edgeworth and Co. have another it, it was thought fit (i. e. profitable) faculty in great perfection. They are that he should write one volume for eminently masters of the pathos. The general, and one for therapeutic Firm drew tears from us in the stories of readers. The latter has not yet come little Dominick, and of the Irish beggar to our hands. The former we have who killed his sweetheart: never was read with pleasure. It is very sensibly any grief more natural or simple. The and agreeably drawn up; and the only |