nes Grammaticus, the Aristotelian philosopher, Nobilia was united in marriage to a person of her own nation of the name of Oleander, to whom she immediately gave up the manuscripts, and in his family they have ever since remained. Moreover, it was upon this occasion, and in honour of the lady, that the cognomen of Nobilius is said to have been assumed by the house of Oleander. These, however, are ancient things; and it is enough for our purpose that these manuscripts are undoubtedly, at this time, in the possession of me, Ishmael Nobilius Oleander, the degenerate descendant of such illustrious ancestors.

And now, most eminent Doctor, it is time to bring this my first epistle to a conclusion; and I beg to assure you that you shall soon hear from me again, as I expect to have an opportunity, before long, of transmitting to you a translation of some of these curious treatises, either in prose or verse, which I hope you will judge worthy of being inserted in your excellent Miscellany that is to be. I have waited long for a conveyance, by means of which I might conveniently send this and several other epistles to you; and I have learnt, just now,

that a good friend of mine, Ibrahim Salamé, master of the brig Barbarossa of this port, intends to sail in a few days for Britain, with a cargo of Turkey leather from Smyrna, cotton from Haleb, and coffee from Mocha, in Arabia, (which last item is on mine own account, to the value of 458 piastres.) Ibrahim is, indeed, a trusty person; and should you have any thing to transmit to me, such as a copy of the Magazine when it is published, which I should certainly like very much to get,-without speaking of money matters at all,-you will find him very worthy of being confided in. He will not be long in departing from this place, for his cargo is now on board, and he is mucn afraid of being taken by the Pacha on the expedition against the Greeks, which they have been talking of here for some time past; but they talk long before they do any thing.

I shall certainly take the opportunity of sending by Ibrahim a packet containing several communications to you in continuation of this one, as I have them nearly completed. This circumstance will, no

It must be observed that this was written in 1824, when the contest between the Greeks and the Turks was at the hottest.ED.

doubt, put you in mind of the pleasant story of Zelucco the Palermian, penned, I believe, by the illustrious Dr Moore, father of the handsome soldier Moore, whom I recollect well of having seen in Egypt. When Zelucco's affectionate mother had prevailed on him to promise that he would write to her once a fortnight, while he was absent from his native place, he, in order to satisfy his conscience, wrote a whole packet of letters during a few days that he was necessarily confined to his chamber; and giving them to his servant,-" Here," said he, "take these to the post-house, one regularly once a fortnight; and when these are expended let me know, that I may write another set for the old lady."

I shall, therefore, transmit to you, by this opportunity, all the lucubrations that I have been able, once a fortnight, to put together for your amusement; and which I have denominated, in general, "Noctes Orientales," in imitation of the "Noctes Attica" of that great man of antiquity, Aulus Gellius. Not that I am by any means so vain as to insinuate, that my compositions are at all to be put in comparison with those of such a celebrated author,

although, as you will see afterwards, my manuscripts certainly are ;-but, as it is chiefly at night that I find leisure for applying myself to the penning of my translations, and preparing my essays for your perusal, I think the title may not unaptly be appropriated to them: of this, however, you will let me know your opinion.* Meantime, believe me to be,

Most learned Doctor,

Your very faithful friend, ISHMAEL NOBILIUS OLEANDER.

Written in the city of Alexandria, on the fifth day of the month Nisan, in the year 5584.†

* As our readers will perceive, we have, in virtue of this qualifying clause, used the freedom to exchange the title of "Noctes Orientales," suggested by the Rabbi for his work, for that of "The Orientalist;" as, from certain circumstances to which it is unnecessary here particularly to refer, the term "Noctes" seems now to be used in literature in rather too ludicrous a way to be at all suitable for the grave dissertations of the Rabbi.-En.

i. e. 1st April, 1824.-En.

B

No II.

Concerning a Sect of Philosophers called RashitesMarks of a great Linguist-Fable of the Ear and other Members-Story of the Durwesh and Sceptic-Arabian Nights-STORY OF ABDALLAH THE SON OF ABULFAID.

It has been wisely observed, most learned Wilfred, by that celebrated character Charles the Fifth, Emperor of the Franks," that the more languages a man can speak, the more frequently does he feel himself a man,”- —a remark founded on a close observation of human nature. It was some such consideration as this which influenced my mind when I first began seriously to study the science of tongues; and, indeed, I found always so much pleasure in this occupation that, when even a child, I showed a surprising degree of aptitude in learning languages.

I have heard of a sect of philosophers called RASH