ALLADIN THE PERSIAN, AN EASTERN Tale.

Continued from p. 295.

CHAPTER X.

The charms of gallantry.

DISGUSTED with the world, by the injustice he had suffed, Alladın on his arrival, returned to the same mode of life he had led before the death of his father. As the empire was at peace, he could not signalize himself by his courage; and the independency of his character rendered him unfit to occupy a place at court: he resolved therefore to divide his time between his studies and his pleasures, and prefsed the Calender to come and live with him. The Calender notwithstanding his great friendship for Alladin did not think proper to comply with his wishes, but promised never to let a day pafs without seeing him. Alladin's former friends returned to him in crowds; they celebrated his generosity. his magnificence, and his taste. His easinefs of character was well known; he could refuse nothing. and his good friends profited by it; many of them borrowing of him large sums.

In the midst of his pleasures Alladin perceived a void, which at times made him melancholy, and inclined him to indifference. He saw with the same eye all the women of his harem: he was indifferent to all. His friends praised him, and his women carrefsed him, but to no purpose; for he felt there was another mode of being happy, tho' he could not make it out in his own mind. One day he consulted the Calender; "Do you think I am happy?” said he' Lefs so than the meanest of your slaves." "What fhall I do to be so?" " 'just what you are about: you will come to it." What a contradiction," said Alla

pro

din, "when every day I am m re miserable." Patience replied the Calender. Alladin, who had read romances, and had heard much sentimental conversation with women, resolved to give up his hare, and to live in society. It is not among slaves, said he, who can refuse me nothing, that I must expect to find the pleasures of love. He fancied himself in love ten times, and made declarations that were accepted directly; but he only met with women whose indifference prompted them to make fefsions without any feeling others that only took him for the moment; and who changed their lovers perpetually for the mere sake of variety. The greater part accepted a lover, not having any thing, do to but to write a billet in the morning for a rendezvous in the evening. Taese women when tete a tete talked of nothing but the different intrigues of the court, or the dresses worn in the last Gala day. They gave themselves up as it were through absence of thought--pretended to prodigious sensibilities, re-adjusted their head drefs, looked at their watch, and hastened to the public spectacles. He perceived that gallantry was in general reduced to a rule, that a woman knew before hand the day that he was to yeild, the uneasiness and doubt fhe was to give her lover, and that she had fixed in her own mind the hour of the reconciliation, and that of the rupture. He perceived that in this whirlpool where men and women are turned round, there is neither time to feel nor think, Alladin quitted then a society where so little variety is found in language and opinions, but so much variableness in sentiments - Returning again to his harem,he enjoyed tranquillity and liberty, and rejoiced to think he had no more billets doux to writę,

SIR,

ON BANKS

To the Editor of the Bee.

By your note on my scheme for Charter Banks *you must have mistaken me greatly; for of what use are banks to the merchants, if they do not discount bills. I always understood that to be the chief business of the Charter banks, at present; and that they circulate their notes mostly in that way: and if what is called cash accounts, were left entirely to the private bankers, or money brokers, which you please to call them, perhaps it would be equally for the advantage both of the banks and the merchants. But you seem to confound bills of accomodation, with wind bills properly so called. A bill of accómodation is an honest transaction, because there is no circumstance concealed from the discounter which had he known he would not have consented to the transaction. But wind bills are a method of swindling that has got considerable footing by the circumstance of several bank offices being in the same town; an example might be given in each, but as the difference is so well known to traders, I avoid lengthening this letter with them. But if you never have seen a good reason afsigned for the Charter banks, not discounting bills at present as freely as usual, I fhall endeavour to give one.

Many of the private bankers, had pushed their circulation far beyond what was adequate for their capitals; this is what I call the ficticious stock the nation was trading upon. Now had the bank of England, and all the other Charter banks, continued to discount as usual, after so great a number of the private banks had been obliged to give it over, the whole of the paper in circulation would * Bae vol. xvii. p. 204,

he

335 soon have been in their hands, which would have raised their circulation far above what was adequate for all neir capitals put together, and so made them guilty of same error, the others had fallen into: And the very design of my scheme was to point out where a capital was to be found large enough to take up all the paper, (that is supposed to be good) now in circulation, without overtrading themselves. But the wantonly stopping the discount of bills in the usual course of businefs, is such a hellish project, that it can be compared to nothing but the envicus man in the fable, who was content to lose one of his own eyes that his neighbour might be made blind; and those who do impute such a design to the Charter banks do not consider that bills are the goods banks deal in, so that each bill they discount is an addition to their goods on hand. Now if they fhall continue to buy in faster than they are taken up again, they must accumulate in their hands to such a degree, as would change the banks from the character of prudent dealers to the wildest specula

tors.

In my last, I only made some slight hints at speculation in trade, and the disadvantage long credits was to the export trade, I intended afterwards to have stated the distinction between a prudent trader, and a speculator; and also to have pointed out the advantage that would arise to trade, if the credits given by the wholesale dealer. were redu. ced to three months. But as this must necefsarily run to some length and would be interesting only to a few of your readers, I will rather make a proposal to such patriotic gentlemen as Sir John Sinclair how the improvement of wool might be greatly promoted; and at the same time such advantage, be derived trom it as I have not yet seen taken notice of. I am, Sir, your most humble servant

CRITICUS.

ANECDOTE OF PETER THE GREAT, AND HIS CONFESSOR

man

BITKA.

Communicated by Arcticus.

For the Bee.

WHILST the great legislator of the North was in France, the Rochurch was nut idle in all its branches to persuade him to make certain changes in his national religion as prelimenary steps to an union with the see of Rome, so much desired by the sovereign Pontif. For this purpose several men of eminence and talents, were sent from Rome under pretext of complimenting the Russian Czar, but secretly to assist the French clergy in this great work.

The Empperor with his usual good sense replyed, to repeated attacks on the subject, that when arrived in his dominions he would not fail to refer the affair to the Synod, who were better judges of such matters than.himself.

However this wise and prudent answer did not prevent him from being still strongly urged for permifsion to talk the matter over with his confessor in the mean time, whom they certainly supposed to have as much power over his masters mind, as those of France and Spain had over those of their sovereigns at that period. Peter was thrown into a disagreeable dilen ma by this unexpected demand, as whilst he disdain-' ed the illiberal appearence of refusing it, he was by no means convinced that Bitla's theology was sufficiently orthodox, to be the cham pion of the Greek church, who he knew had conversed more with the jovial sons of Rufsia, than with the ancient fathers of its religion. However, on his communicating the proposal and his doubts to his confefsor, the reverend father begged him to have none, as he was afsuredly a match for the whole sorbonne in his own way, as he was perfect master of a powerful argument which he trusted would strike the whole of of his antagonists dumb, and desi ed nothing better than to put them to the trial, if Peter would only prom se to keep out of the way and leave the whole business to his own management. These preli minaries being agreed upon, the learned theologists were invited to the conference on a fixed day, and our Russian Pope or Papa as he is called at home, had a splendid repast prepared fer the occasion.