Chapter 3

My uncle had always been passionately fond of the course, and prided himself upon his stud of racers. He betted largely, and was generally fortunate, probably because he selected his men with a wary eye. The race course, then, was the arena chosen for the enterprise; but admirable as were the projected plans, and skilfully as they were executed, such was his luck, or so profound were his calculations, that they failed _five_ successive seasons. Fitzroy, however, was one of those men who, when satisfied that what they engage in ought to succeed, according to the means employed, only derive fresh vigour from every fresh defeat. He played his game a _sixth_ time, and won. The same day that saw my uncle rise with thousands, saw him seek his pillow at night, a frantic beggar! He was too proud a man, too honourable, I will add, not to throw down his last guinea, in satisfaction of such demands. He never suspected villany in the business. He paid his losses, therefore; and in less than a week afterwards, an inquest sat upon his body, which was found at the bottom of his own fish pond.

I had my share of this infernal plunder; but so ravenous had been my appetite for revenge, that not one pang of remorse disturbed the riotous enjoyments in which it was lavished. On the contrary, the very consciousness that it _was_ my uncle's money I squandered, gave a zest to every excess, and seemed to appease the gnawing passions which had so long tormented me. In two or three years, however, boundless extravagance, and the gaming-table, stripped me of my last shilling. It was in one of the frenzied moments of this profligate reverse of fortune, that I committed the crime for which, if to-morrow dawned upon me, I should be publicly arraigned.

Fitzroy had been fortunate the whole night. I had thrown with constant bad luck. He had pocketed some hundreds; I had lost more than I could pay. I asked him for a temporary loan of fifty pounds, to make good what I owed, and stake the small remaining sum for the chance of retrieving all. He refused me. It was the first time he had ever done so. But he not _only_ refused me, he taunted me with sarcastic reproofs for my folly, and muttered something about the uselessness of assisting a man who, if he had thousands, would scatter them like dust. He should have chosen a fitter moment to exhort me, than when I was galled by my losses, and by his denial of my request. I was heated with wine too; and half mad with despair, half mad with drink, I sprang upon him, tore him to the earth, and before the by-standers could interfere to separate us, I had buried a knife, which I snatched from a table near me, up to the handle in his heart! He screamed--convulsively grappled me by the throat---and expired! His death-gripe was so fierce and powerful, that I believe had we been alone, his murderer would have been found strangled by his side. It was with difficulty that the horror-struck witnesses of this bloody scene could force open his clenched hands time enough to let me breathe.

I have done! I remember, as if it were but yesterday, the silent response which my heart made, when my uncle pronounced that withering sentence on me. "No!" was my indignant exclamation; "I may deserve a hundred public deaths; but if I know myself, I would never undergo one!--NOR WILL I." When that which I have written shall be read--other hopes and fears--other punishments, perchance, than man can awaken or inflict--will await me. My _first_ crime--my _first_ revenge, and my _last_, I have recorded; my _last_ crime others must tell, when they speak of the murderer and SUICIDE,

JAMES MORLEY.

There is little doubt that scarcely a moment intervened between his writing his name, and placing the pistol to his heart; for when he was discovered, the pen was lying on the paper, as if it had been laid down only for an instant.

* * * * *

RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS.

* * * * *

REGAL TABLET.

(_Concluded from page 166._)

CHARLES II.

restored 29th May, 1669, ended 6th Feb. 1685.

_Popes_.

Alexander VII., 1655. Clement IX., 1667. Clement X., 1670. Innocent XI., 1676.

_Emperor of Germany_.

Leopold I., 1658.

_France_.

Louis XIV., 1643.

_Spain_.

Philip IV., 1620. Charles II., 1665.

_Portugal_.

Alonzo VI., 1656. Pedro II., 1683.

_Denmark_

Frederic III., 1648. Christian V., 1670.

_Sweden_.

Charles XI., 1660.

* * * * *

JAMES II.

began his reign 6th Feb. 1685, abdicated 13th Feb. 1689.

Contemporaries all as in the last reign.

* * * * *

WILLIAM AND MARY

began their reign 13th Feb. 1689, ended 8th March, 1702.

_Popes_.

Innocent XI., 1676. Alexander VIII., 1689. Innocent XII., 1691. Clement XI., 1700.

_Emperor of Germany_.

Leopold I., 1658.

_France_.

Louis XIV., 1643.

_Spain_.

Charles II., 1665. Philip V., 1700.

_Portugal_.

Pedro II., 1683.

_Denmark_.

Christian V., 1670. Frederic IV., 1699.

_Sweden_.

Charles XI., 1660. Charles XII., 1697.

_Prussia_.

Frederic I., 1701.

* * * * *

ANNE

began her reign 8th March, 1702, ended 1st Aug. 1714.

_Popes_.

Clement XI., 1700.

_Emperors of Germany_.

Leopold I., 1658. Joseph I., 1705. Charles VI., 1711.

_France_.

Louis XIV., 1643.

_Spain_.

Philip V., 1700.

_Portugal_.

Pedro II., 1683. John V., 1706.

_Denmark_.

Frederic IV., 1699.

_Sweden_.

Charles XII. 1697.

_Prussia_.

Frederic I., 1701. Frederic William I., 1713.

* * * * *

The Illustrious House of Brunswick.

GEORGE I.

began his reign 1st Aug. 1714, ended 11th June, 1727.

_Popes_.

Clement XI., 1700. Innocent XIII., 1721. Benedict XIII., 1723.

_Emperor of Germany_.

Charles VI., 1711.

_Russia_.

Peter I., 1724. Catherine I., 1725. Peter II., 1727.

_France_.

Louis XIV., 1643. Louis XV., 1715.

_Spain_.

Philip V., 1700.

_Portugal_.

John V., 1706.

_Denmark_.

Frederic IV., 1699.

_Sweden_.

Charles XII. 1697. Ulrica, 1718. Frederic, 1720.

_Prussia_.

Frederic William I., 1713.

* * * * *

GEORGE II.

began his reign 11th June, 1727, ended 25th Oct. 1760.

_Popes_.

Benedict XIII., 1723. Clement XII., 1730. Benedict XIV., 1740. Clement XIII., 1758.

_Emperors of Germany_.

Charles VI., 1711. Charles VII., 1740. Francis I., 1745.

_Russia_.

Peter II., 1727. Anne., 1730. John V., 1740. Elizabeth, 1741.

_France_.

Louis XV., 1715.

_Spain_.

Philip V., 1700. Ferdinand, 1746. Charles III., 1759.

_Portugal_.

John V., 1706. Joseph, 1750.

_Denmark_.

Frederic IV., 1699. Christian VI. 1730. Frederic V., 1746.

_Sweden_.

Frederic, 1720. Adolphus, 1751.

_Prussia_.

Frederic William, I, 1713. Frederic II., 1740.

* * * * *

GEORGE III.

began his reign 25th Oct. 1760, ended 29th Jan. 1820.

_Popes_.

Clement XIII., 1758. Clement XIV., 1769. Pius VI., 1775. Pius VII., 1800.

_Emperors of Germany_.

Francis I., 1745. Joseph II., 1765. Francis II., 1792.[4]

_Austria_.

Francis I., 1806.

_Turkey_.

Mustapha III., 1757. Achmed, 1774. Selim III., 1789. Mahamud VI., 1808.

_Portugal_.

Joseph, 1750. Mary and Peter III., 1777. Mary (alone), 1786. John, 1816.

_Russia_.

Elizabeth, 1741. Peter III., 1762. Catharine II., 1762. Paul I., 1796. Alexander, 1801.

_Prussia_.

Frederic the Great, 1740. Frederic William II., 1786.

_France_.

Louis XV., 1715. Louis XVI., 1774. Louis XVII. 1793. Bonaparte, 1799. Louis XVIII., 1814.

_Spain_.

Charles III., 1759. Charles IV., 1788. Ferdinand VII., 1808.

_Denmark_.

Frederic V., 1746. Christian VII., 1766. Matilda, 1772. Frederic VI. 1808.

_Sweden_.

Adolphus Frederic, 1751. Gustavus III., 1771. Gustavus IV., 1792. Charles XIII., 1809. Charles XIV., (Bernadotte), 1818.

_Holland_.

William V. (Stadtholder), 1757. William, Prince of Orange, 1815.

_Prussia_.

Frederic William III., 1797.

_Poland_.

Stanislaus II. 1764.

_Naples and Sicily_.

Frederic IV. 1759. Joseph Napoleon, 1806. Joachim Napoleon, 1809. King of Naples restored, 1815.

_Etruria_.

Francis, 1730. Leopold, 1765. Ferdinand III., 1790. Louis I., 1801. Louis II. 1802.

_Sardinia_.

Charles Emanuel III. 1730. Victor Amadeus, 1773. Emanuel V., 1802.

* * * * *

GEORGE IV.

ascended 29th Jan. 1820, whom GOD preserve.

Contemporaries at the commencement of his reign the same as at the death of his late majesty.

JACOBUS.

[4] Francis II. of Germany abdicated 1806, and took the title of Emperor of Austria.

* * * * *

THE SELECTOR,

AND

LITERARY NOTICES OF

_NEW WORKS_.

* * * * *

MOUNT ARAFAT, AND THE PILGRIMAGE TO MEKKA.

Every traditionary and topographical particular of this hallowed spot, and the picturesque ceremonies by which it is consecrated, must be acceptable to the Christian reader; and this conviction has induced us to abridge the following from that portion of _Burckhardt's Travels_ which describes the _Hadj_, or _pilgrimage_ to Mekka.

At sunrise on the 9th of Zul Hadj, every pilgrim issued from his tent, to walk over the plains, and take a view of the busy crowds assembled there. Long streets of tents, fitted up as bazars, furnished all kinds of provisions. The Syrian and Egyptian cavalry were exercised by their chiefs early in the morning, while thousands of camels were seen feeding upon the dry shrubs of the plain all round the camp. I walked to Mount Arafat, to enjoy from its summit a more distinct view of the whole. This granite hill, which is also called _Djebel er' Rahme_, or the Mountain of Mercy, rises on the north-east side of the plain, close to the mountains which encompass it, but separated from them by a rocky valley; it is about a mile, or a mile and a half in circuit; its sides are sloping, and its summit is nearly two hundred feet above the level of the plain. On the eastern side broad stone steps lead up to the top, and a broad unpaved path, on the western, over rude masses of granite, with which its declivity is covered. After mounting about forty steps, we find a spot a little on the left, called Modaa Seydna Adam, or the place of prayer of our Lord Adam, where, it is related, that the father of mankind used to stand while praying; for here it was, according to Mohammedan tradition, that the angel Gabriel first instructed Adam how to adore his Creator. A marble slab, bearing an inscription in modern characters, is fixed in the side of the mountain. On reaching about the sixtieth step, we come to a small paved platform to our right, on a level spot of the hill, where the preacher stands who admonishes the pilgrims on the afternoon of this day, as I shall hereafter mention. Thus high, the steps are so broad and easy that a horse or camel may ascend; but higher up they become more steep and uneven. On the summit, the place is shown where Mohammed used to take his station during the Hadj; a small chapel formerly stood over it; but this was destroyed by the Wahabys: here the pilgrims usually pray two rikats, in salutation of Arafat. The steps and the summit are covered with handkerchiefs to receive their pious gifts, and each family of the Mekkawys or Bedouins of the tribe of Koreysh, in whose territory Arafat lies, has its particular spot assigned to it for this purpose. The summit commands a very extensive and singular prospect. I brought my compass to take a circle of bearings; but the crowd was so great that I could not use it. Towards the western extremity of the plain are seen Bir Bazan and the Aalameyn; somewhat nearer, southwards, the mosque called Djama Nimre, or Djama Seydna Ibrahim; and on the south-east, a small house where the Sherif used to lodge during the pilgrimage. From thence an elevated rocky ground in the plain extends towards Arafat. On the eastern side of the mountain, and close to its foot, are the ruins of a small mosque, built on rocky ground, called Djama el Szakhrat, where Mohammed was accustomed to pray, and where the pilgrims make four prostrations in memory of the prophet. Several large reservoirs lined with stone are dispersed over the plain; two or three are close to the foot of Arafat, and there are some near the house of the Sherifs: they are filled from the same fine aqueduct which supplies Mekka, and the head of which is about one hour and a half distant, in the eastern mountains. The canal is left open here for the convenience of pilgrims, and is conducted round the three sides of the mountains, passing by Modaa Seydna Adam.[5]

From the summit of Arafat, I counted about three thousand tents dispersed over the plain, of which two-thirds belonged to the two Hadj caravans, and to the suite and soldiers of Mohammed Aly; the rest to the Arabs of the Sherif, the Bedouin hadjys, and the people of Mekka and Djidda. These assembled multitudes were for the greater number, like myself, without tents. The two caravans were encamped without much order, each party of pilgrims or soldiers having pitched its tents in large circles or _dowars_, in the midst of which many of their camels were reposing. The plain contained, dispersed in different parts, from twenty to twenty-five thousand camels, twelve thousand of which belonged to the Syrian Hadj, and from five to six thousand to the Egyptian; besides about three thousand, purchased by Mohammed Aly from the Bedouins in the Syrian Deserts, and brought to Mekka with the Hadj, to convey the pilgrims to this place, previously to being used for the transport of army-provisions to Tayf.

The Syrian Hadj was encamped on the south and south-west side of the mountain; the Egyptian on the south-east. Around the house of the Sherif, Yahya himself was encamped with his Bedouin troops, and in its neighbourhood were all the Hedjaz people. Here it was that the two Yemen caravans used formerly to take their station. Mohammed Aly, and Soleyman Pasha of Damascus, as well as several of their officers, had very handsome tents; but the most magnificent of all was that of the wife of Mohammed Aly, the mother of Tousoun Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha, who had lately arrived from Cairo for the Hadj, with a truly royal equipage, five hundred camels being necessary to transport her baggage from Djidda to Mekka. Her tent was in fact an encampment consisting of a dozen tents of different sizes, inhabited by her women; the whole enclosed by a wall of linen cloth, eight hundred paces in circuit, the single entrance to which was guarded by eunuchs in splendid dresses. Around this enclosure were pitched the tents of the men who formed her numerous suite. The beautiful embroidery on the exterior of this linen palace, with the various colours displayed in every part of it, constituted an object which reminded me of some descriptions in the Arabian Tales of the Thousand and One Nights. Among the rich equipages of the other hadjys, or of the Mekka people, none were so conspicuous as that belonging to the family of Djeylany, the merchant, whose tents, pitched in a semicircle, rivalled in beauty those of the two pashas, and far exceeded those of Sherif Yahya. In other parts of the East, a merchant would as soon think of buying a rope for his own neck, as of displaying his wealth in the presence of a pasha; but Djeylany has not yet laid aside the customs which the Mekkawys learned under their old government, particularly that of Sherif Ghaleb, who seldom exercised extortion upon single individuals; and they now rely on the promises of Mohammed Aly, that he will respect their property.

During the whole morning, there were repeated discharges of the artillery which both pashas had brought with them. A few pilgrims had taken up their quarters on Djebel Arafat itself, where some small cavern, or impending block of granite, afforded them shelter from the sun. It is a belief generally entertained in the East, and strengthened by many boasting hadjys on their return home, that all the pilgrims, on this day, encamp upon Mount Arafat; and that the mountain possesses the miraculous property of expansion, so as to admit an indefinite number of the faithful upon its summit. The law ordains that the _wakfe_, or position of the Hadj, should be on Djebel Arafat; but it wisely provides against any impossibility, by declaring that the plain in the immediate neighbourhood of the mountain may be regarded as comprised under the term "mountain," or Djebel Arafat.

I estimated the number of persons assembled here at about seventy thousand. The camp was from three to four miles long, and between one and two in breadth. There is, perhaps, no spot on earth where, in so small a place, such a diversity of languages are heard; I reckoned about forty, and I have no doubt that there were many more. It appeared to me as if I were here placed in a holy temple of travellers only; and never did I at any time feel a more ardent wish to be able to penetrate once into the inmost recesses of the countries of many of those persons whom I now saw before me, fondly imagining that I might have no more difficulty in reaching their homes, than what they had experienced in their journey to this spot.

* * * * *

The time of Aszer (or about three o'clock, P.M.) approached, when that ceremony of the Hadj takes place, for which the whole assembly had come hither. The pilgrims now pressed forward towards the mountain of Arafat, and covered its sides from top to bottom. At the precise time of Aszer, the preacher took his stand upon the platform on the mountain, and began to address the multitude. This sermon, which lasts till sun-set, constitutes the holy ceremony of the Hadj called Khotbet el Wakfe; and no pilgrim, although he may have visited all the holy places of Mekka, is entitled to the name of hadjy, unless he has been present on this occasion. As Aszer approached, therefore, all the tents were struck, every thing was packed up, the caravans began to load, and the pilgrims belonging to them mounted their camels, and crowded round the mountain, to be within sight of the preacher, which is sufficient, as the greater part of the multitude is necessarily too distant to hear him. The two pashas, with their whole cavalry drawn up in two squadrons behind them, took their post in the rear of the deep lines of camels of the hadjys, to which those of the people of the Hedjaz were also joined; and here they waited in solemn and respectful silence the conclusion of the sermon. Further removed from the preacher, was the Sherif Yahya, with his small body of soldiers, distinguished by several green standards carried before him. The two Mahmals, or holy camels, which carry on their back the high structure that serves as the banner of their respective caravans, made way with difficulty through the ranks of camels that encircled the southern and eastern sides of the hill, opposite to the preacher, and took their station, surrounded by their guards, directly under the platform in front of him.[6]

The preacher, or Khatyb, who is usually the Kadhy of Mekka, was mounted upon a finely caparisoned camel, which had been led up the steps; it being traditionally said that Mohammed was always seated when he here addressed his followers, a practice in which he was imitated by all the Khalifes who came to the Hadj, and who from hence addressed their subjects in person. The Turkish gentleman of Constantinople, however, unused to camel-riding, could not keep his seat so well as the hardy Bedouin prophet; and the camel becoming unruly, he was soon obliged to alight from it. He read his sermon from a book in Arabic, which he held in his hands. At intervals of every four or five minutes he paused, and stretched forth his arms to implore blessings from above; while the assembled multitudes around and before him waved the skirts of their ihrams over their heads, and rent the air with shouts of "Lebeyk, Allahuma Lebeyk," (i.e. Here we are, at thy commands, O God!) During the wavings of the ihrams, the side of the mountain, thickly crowded as it was by the people in their white garments, had the appearance of a cataract of water; while the green umbrellas, with which several thousand hadjys, sitting on their camels below, were provided, bore some resemblance to a verdant plain.--During his sermon, which lasted almost three hours, the Kadhy was seen constantly to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief; for the law enjoins the Khatyb or preacher to be moved with feeling and compunction; and adds that, whenever tears appear on his face, it is a sign that the Almighty enlightens him, and is ready to listen to his prayers.