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course of their love was as unroyal as possible the wooing was in good, old-fashioned, style; and the world of Vienna spoke of their marriage, long before the prince was an officially accepted lovero prongs sebaszeit

The royal lover had come, indeed, as a legate only to the congress; but affairs of policy were all abandoned by him for those of the heart. He must have startled German gravity by his scorn for diplomatic regulation. When his mountain of a father suddenly removed itself from Vienna in high dudgeon, at the prospect of an entire restoration of the old "Holy Roman Empire," the son was bound to follow the paternal ton that had rolled homeward; or, at all events, to protect his stupendous sire's interests, if he remained behind; but the truth was, that he remained much more occupied with the "beaux yeux of the Duchess of Oldenburgh, than with all the inextricable confusion of questions which were supposed to be engaging the attention of the assembled congress.

And at length the hour came when public expression was given to the affection of this interesting couple. The scene must have been highly dramatic, occurring, as it did, in the midst of a gorgeous festival offered by Alexander to celebrate his sister's birthday. It was at the conclusion that the following little passage charmed its numerous spectators.

"At last, in order that nothing might be wanting to the magnificence of this festival, a lottery was drawn, in strict accordance to the fashion then reigning at Vienna. The prizes were numerous, and most superb. One circumstance, indifferent in appearance, gave it, however, unexpected interest. Custom exacted, that every cav cavalier favoured by fortune, should make homage of his prize at the feet of some lady present. A rich sable cape (palatine de martre zibelline) had fallen to the lot of the Prince of Wirtemburg; he hastened to offer it to her who was the object of the festival; and well did love reward him. The fair Catherine bore in her bosom a bouquet fastened by a ribband. Detaching this from her dress, she presented it to the prince in recompense of the homage just performed. At this demonstration at this public avowal of a sentiment which was no longer a secret for any one a murmur of happy congratulation spread through the immense saloon."

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All that now remains to commemorate a happiness that too speedily fled, is the Greek chapel which crowns the hill of Rothemberg, and which was erected by the royal widower, to contain the mortal body of the deceased Catherine. It stands on the spot once occupied by the feudal castle of the present royal family; and beneath its triple porticoed rotunda the service of the Greek Church is daily performed by three resident priests. For it is the custom of the imperial family of Russia, never to

allow a princess marrying out of it to abandon the profession of the Greek religion; while it also demands of every princess, of another faith, marrying into it, to surrender her own.

Among the portions of this book attended with a striking moral, those devoted to the narratives of gamblers, and traits of gambling, stand perhaps the most pre-eminent. We have not space to detail them; but we can only say, in passing, that they contain some fearful and, no doubt, well founded details that are calculated to deter the man most madly given to the destructive mania, to pause, even in the full career of his insane success. The most celebrated of the devotees at the table, rather of misfortune than of fortune, were, during the congress, the Russians. They continue, to this day, the most inveterately abandoned to the perils of play, of any people in the world. We have ourselves turned, for a few brief minutes, in the Kur-Saal at Ems, to watch, on our way through that thoroughfare, the phrenzy of Russian daring at the game of hazard. We have seen noblemen staking, as deputies for fair Muscovite princesses, who calmly won or lost sums that would have paid and clothed every destitute creature in the Duchy of Nassau. At one of these German tables, placed to catch those who would perhaps fain have passed on their way to innocent relaxation, we have seen a mother seated and playing "high" on her knee sat her daughter, a fair child who had scarcely passed her second lustre: and this poor thing was playing too-flinging her little ventures into the abyss of chance and awaiting with feverish anxiety and painful excitement the issue of her hazard. We have, moreover, beheld the whole Russian court, with the heir apparent to the throne, at their head, crowding round the green carpeted table, and losing, or winning, royal ransoms with the greatest equanimity: while behind the glittering crowd, so occupied, towered the majestic figure of the father and the emperor, looking calmly on, save when a smile crossed his fine features as fate, perhaps, declared itself suddenly hostile to one whose boldness it had hitherto encouraged. No one could have been at Ems during the last imperial visit there, in 1840, without having these scenes forced upon his notice. They were enacted in a locality so public, that to be blind to them were impossible. The Emperor Alexander does not appear to have been so tolerant of play as is his brother Nicholas. M. de la Garde's book contains many very refreshing proofs of this. But the imperial displeasure seems to have been disregarded; or risked to be repented of too late. We read here of noblemen losing millions upon millions of roubles, in one night of others reduced from their high estate to become absolute beggars: friend not only plays with friend, but premeditatedly robs him

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too. We find one realizing a temporary fortune, raising a palace to commemorate it, and naming the new edifice "Card Castle" true appellation of a building that a gambler's breath was destined to destroy! The traits of other victims or victors crowd upon us, and would fain be told; but we are unable to devote any of the little space we have left, to notice even the instructive. career of one whom England contributed to the congress of dicethrowers. The course of Riley of Bath" is one not at all unsuited to our pages. The career of such a professor is a homily against his profession, and never had career so pointed a moral as his. But we are compelled, reluctantly, to give way to those who have better claim to the attention of our readers. Let it suffice to say, that Riley lived a life of the most gorgeous luxury and extravagance that he was the companion of sovereignsthat he squandered money with a profusion amounting to insanity, and won it by a good fortune that seemed connected with the supernatural: nor was he free from generous and daring sentiments. He, on one occasion, risked an entire colossal fortune on the hazard of the die, against a Russian estate, the slaves on which he was desirous of restoring to freedom. He succeeded in his attempt, and accomplished his desire. Subsequently, he ran a brief course of dazzling splendour he lived in palaces, continued to play, became unlucky, and found fortune, wealth, and friends desert him. At length, the once possessor of millions was seen wandering through the streets of London, naked, famished, and pennyless; and finally, he who had feasted emperors, and fared sumptuously every day, died of absolute starvation in one of the miserable alleys of our great metropolis. Such is the course of a gamester!

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Nearly six months had the congress been performing their grand interlude between two tragedies, when it was hastily drawn to a close by the impatience of the principal performer in the last piece. While a party of noble amateurs were playing at the imperial palace à French vaudeville, aptly enough entitled The Interrupted Dance, a little flotilla was making its hasty way from Elba to Cannes, and bearing with it the great sorceror who was about to raise a tempest which the sovereigns of Europe had lazily endeavoured to render impossible. On a fine morning in March, the foot of Napoleon was once more on the soil of France; and, as he unsheathed his sword, the first words he uttered were-"The congress is dissolved !"..

"What were the causes (enquires our author) that induced Napoleon to act on a resolution, the consequence of which was so fatal for France? ......... Was not his departure from Elba the effect of despair, in order to escape the captivity which, six years later, de

stroyed him at St. Helena? It is certain that the presence of the Emperor of the French in the Mediterranean, the independence enjoyed by him, and the shadow of power which he had been permitted to retain, had excited considerable alarm at the congress. It was no secret that there existed at Paris a vast centre of correspondence and conspiracy; and that preparations were making there for a restoration of the imperial dynasty. The Queen Hortense was the very soul of the plota plot visible to all, save the blind government of the Bourbons. During the residence of the ex-Queen of Holland at Baden, in the month of August, 1814, Madame de Krudener, so celebrated afterwards for her mystical connection with the Emperor Alexander, had predicted to the dethroned sovereign the return of Napoleon. Accordingly, among the first matters deliberated upon in the conferences of the congress, and that in great secrecy, was the question of selecting another place of exile, or rather of transportation, for the illustrious criminal. The Island of St. Helena was first spoken of, towards the end of January, by M. Pozzo di Borgo. That diplomatist declared that he had received letters intimating that emissaries of Napoleon had been arrested at Genoa, Florence, and on various points of the coast. Europe (said he) will never enjoy tranquillity until she has placed the ocean betwixt herself and this man.' It is asserted that Prince Eugene owed his knowledge of this fact to his intimacy with the Emperor of Russia, and that he was not dilatory in imparting it to Napoleon, The latter hesitated no longer his return to France was decided upon; and from that moment Alexander manifested for Eugene nothing but coldness and reserve."

Such is the new version of the cause or rather such is the new, added to the hundred already existing causes of Napoleon's sudden irruption into France. A week's march as an adventurer a hundred days' reign as an emperor-a bloody defeat as a warrior-a captivity in the Atlantic and a double grave were the concluding incidents of a wild career. His final fall was hailed as an assurance of a lasting peace; and even the wisest of men affected to consider that nations could not quarrel since the disturber of nations had been secured for ever. But the annals of the world, since the crowning glory of Waterloo, only afford additional proof that peace is not of the earth, but that her dwelling place is above, and far beyond the skies. The thrones of Europe, it is true, have not endured the dread necessity of combining against the ambition of one man aiming at universal empire; but the history of the last thirty years will prove that neither have they been surrounded with those elements of peace which, on the fall of Napoleon, were said to have been established for ever. That they may again be summoned to complete what, at the congress of Vienna, was hinted at, and should then have been accomplished, had not the love of pleasure strangled the sense of duty, is by no means improbable; nay, it is almost certain in itself; and, as a question, is

only a question of time. Every thing depends, humanly speaking, upon the conduct of the government of that French Regency, the establishment of which, considering the advanced age of Louis Philippe, cannot be very remote. Should that government be one of a wise and conservative nature, France will reap the respect and good wishes of all nations; but should the war party be in the ascendant, and M. Thiers and his followers attempt to consummate that which the republic commenced, and the empire promoted-namely, the subjugation of Europe to the French then will ensue that imperative necessity, whispered of at the congress, of a partition of France itself. This may appear as unjust now as improbable. The time may come when it will be confessed to be as just as it is necessary. If France ever again, under republican leaders, rise menacingly at Europe, she will find the monarchs of the continent ready, and able too, to render her alike harmless to her own peace, and innocuous to the tranquillity of the world.

ART. X.-The Historical Geography of Arabia; or the Patriarchal Evidences of Revealed Religion: a Memoir, with Illustrative Maps; and an Appendix, containing Translations, with an Alphabet and Glossary, of the Hamyaritic Inscriptions recently discovered in Hadramaut. . By the Rev. CHARLES FORSTER, B.D., Author of " Mahometanism Unveiled." Two vols. London: Longmans. 1844.

MR. FORSTER is already favourably known to the public by his work on Mahometanism. The volumes before us are a sequel to that work; as tracing out the patriarchal descent and primeval settlements of the inhabitants of Arabia : the region where that wildest, and boldest, and most successful of impostures arose the country of Mahomet, where his shrine yet re- mains, whither the devotees still make their pilgrimages, and where the superstition has ever retained its strongest hold. These volumes, will, add to the reputation which Mr. Forster has already acquired. And the present work contains, in its Appendix, the germ and promise of another sequel, which, if it shall at all answer the expectations which are hereby raised, will not merely bring a further addition to Mr. Forster's reputation, but will place him amongst those discoverers, who, like Young and Champollion, have drawn aside the veil of antiquity, and have disclosed to us secrets which had lain so long concealed, that the knowledge of their mysterious contents was no longer