THE above engraving represents a part of the excavated City of Pompeii, as it appeared in 1822. The view is now exhibiting in the Panorama, Strand; and a more interesting subject was never offered for the gratification of the scholar, the historian, and the general traveller. It is painted from drawings taken on the spot, by Mr. Burford; and is another proof of the versatile talents of that pleasing and instructive artist. The exhibition is certainly a most delicious treat; and we strongly recommend our numerous readers not to lose the opportunity of beholding it. "Pompeii stands at the foot of Vesuvius, which rises with majestic grandeur in the midst of a plain, called by the ancients Campania. Its walls were once washed by the waves, but the sea has since retired to some distance. Although evidently of Greek origin, nothing certain is known of the earlier history of this city, the foundation of which is attributed to Hercules. The Oscans, Cumæans, Etruscans, and Samnites, seem to have been the successive possessors of these delightful plains, where Nature has lavished under a pure unclouded sky every luxury that can procure enjoyment to man, but which too often, unhappily, enervate his frame and debase his mind. Pompeii, with many other cities, underwent various reverses during the punic and social wars. It was besieged by Sylla, and at length yield ed to the power of the dictator. After the time of Augustus it became a colony, when its history merges in the more important annals of the Roman empire.

Placed on an isulated elevation, formed of the lava, and by some thought the summit of a volcano, on the borders of a sea celebrated for the beauty of its shores, at the entrance of a fertile plain, and watered by a pure stream, Pompeii offered a position, strong in a military point of view, and favourable to commerce: nor was its situation less enchanting from being surrounded by villas, which, like so many gems, adorned the neighbouring declivities of Vesuvius. The Pompeians, in the midst of their tranquil existence, in the month of February, A D. 63, were surprised by a terrible earthquake and eruption, which caused considerable damage. As soon as the inhabitants had recovered from their consternation, they began to clear away the ruins, and to repair the damage

sustained by the edifices; a fact that is evident from the quantity of parts wanting in many of the buildings, even at this time. The taste, however, seems to have become materially corrupt, and purer details are covered by stuccoes, composed in a barbarous style. After an interval of sixteen years, during which several shocks were experienced, on the night of the 23d of August, A.D. 79, a volume of smoke and ashes issued from the mouth of the crater of Vesuvius, with a tremendous explosion: after rising to a certain height, it extended itself like a lofty pine, and, assuming a variety of colours, fell and covered the surrounding country with desolation and dismay. The inhabitants, terrified by repeated shocks, and breathing an atmosphere no longer fit to support life, sought refuge in flight; but were suffocated by the ashes, oppressed by flames of fire, or overwhelmed by the falling edifices. Some skeletons, which have been found, shew the futility of the attempt in many instances:-here a master seeks for safety, and is arrested at the threshold of his door by a shower of ashes; he carries in his hands keys, coins, and precious ornaments; and is followed by a slave bearing vessels of silver and bronze;-there we discover the skeletons of a groupe of females, one of whom is adorned with gold trinkets, and the impressions of some of the forms remain traced upon the ashes. At length, after four days of impene trable darkness, light re-appeared; but sombre, as when an eclipse obscures the brilliancy of the sun's rays.

"After a lapse of fifteen centuries, a countryman, as he was turning up the ground, accidentally found a bronze figure. This discovery excited the attention of the learned, and the government immediately appropiated to itself the right of further researches, which, however, it did not commence till the year 1748, about eighty years after the first discovery.

The excavations were prosecuted with little energy, till the arrival of the French, who cleared away the greater part of that which is now open. The return of the king suspended the works for a time, but they were resumed, though with less activity. This is to be regretted, as the progress of excavation is so slow that the present generation will reap, comparatively, few advantages from the discoveries.

enjoying my torture, and laughing at my writhing and contortions. I implored the mercy of my tormentor by the souls of his father, mother, and grandfather-by his own head by that of his child-and by that of his prince-by the Prophet-by Ali-and by all the Imâms. I cursed tobacco. I renounced smoking. I appealed to the feelings of the surrounding spectators, to my friends the three dervishes, who stood there stirring neither limb nor muscle for me; in short, I bawled, cried, entreated, until I entirely lost all sensation and all recollection.

At length, when I came to myself, I found that I was seated with my head against the wall on the side of the road, surrounded by a crowd gaping at my miserable situation. No one seemed to pity me. My pipes, my jug, and every thing that I possessed, had been taken from me, and I was left to crawl to my home as well as I was able. Luckily it was not far off, and I reached it on my hands and knees, making the most piteous moans imaginable."

He absconds from Meshed, and after a variety of perils, hazardous to him, but amusing to the reader, in which trickery, theft, and falsehood are frequently the principal ingredients, he becomes, through the aid of his quondam fellow-prisoner the poet, confidential servant to the royal physician. He assists the Doctor in his schemes to keep down the rising influence of an European physician with the King, and succeeds. The Doctor refuses him any salary, and he falls in love with his favourite slave Zeenab. It is not possible for us to run over the perilous history of their mutual loves, nor to abstract any of the strange and amusing adventures which they experienced. Zeenab is at last transferred to the Harem of the King, and Hajjî himself raised from the degrading station of a surgeon's slave, to the honourable post of Lieutenant to the Chief Executioner of the Court. Some notion of the duties of this office may be gathered from the following extract:

"Do not suppose that the salary which the Shah gives his servants is a matter of much consideration with them: no, the value of their places, depends upon the range of extortion which circumstances may afford, and upon their ingenuity in taking advantage of it. As, for instance, take our chief; his salary is 1000 tomauns per

annum, which may or may not be regularly paid; that signifies little to him. He spends at least five or six times that sum; and how is he to get it, if it flows not from the contributions of those who come under his cognizance? A khan has incurred. the Shah's displeasure; he is to be beaten and fined: the chief executioner beats and mulcts in the inverse proportion of the present which the sufferer makes him. A rebel's eyes are to be put out; it depends upon what he receives, whether the punishment is done rudely with a dagger, or neatly with a penknife. He is sent on an expedition at the head of an army; wherever he goes presents are sent him from the towns and villages on his road, to induce him not to quarter his troops upon them; and he uses his discretion ac cording to the value of what he receives, in choosing his halting stations. Most of those in high offices, even the viziers, make him annual gifts, in case the day of the Shah's displeasure should come, and then they would hope to be dealt with gently by him. In short, whereever a stick is to be brandished, whereever punishment is to be inflicted, there the chief executioner levies his duties; and they descend in a gradual measure from him to the lowest of his officers. Before I was a naib, and when I was called upon to lay the bastinado on some wretched culprit, many is the time that my compassion has been moved by a direct appeal to my purse; and then instead of beating the sufferer's feet, I struck the felek upon which they rested. It was but last year that the principal secretary of state incurred the wrath of the Shah. He was ordered to receive the bastinado, and by way of distinction, a small carpet was spread for him to lie upon: I and another were the operators, whilst two more held the felek. When we were taking the shawl and cap from his head, his girdle and outer coat (which became our lawful perquisites), he whis. pered to us low enough not to be heard by the Shah (for this was all done in his presence), 'By the mothers that bore you, do not beat me much! I'll give you each ten tomauns if you will not strike me,' His heels were tripped up, his feet placed in the noose, whilst his back reposed on the carpet; and then we set to work. For our own sakes we were obliged to start fair, and we laid on till he roared suffi